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HOW ♦ TO. 
GROWANir 
MARKET 
F R U I T 



PR ice 50 CENTS 



assasse 



• > i w* n >w n.w i n « n 



How to Grow and 
Market Fruit 



Practical Explanations and 
Directions for Making 
Fruit Trees Produce Profit 




PUBLISHED BY 



HARRISON'S NURSERIES 

M 

BERLIN, MARYLAND 



Copyright IQII, by Orlando Harrison 



fs^' 



'O 



WE FEEL that acknowledgment should be made to 
the following men for the help they have given in 
making "How to Grow and Market Fruit" complete 
and reliable. From their constructive criticism of 
the manuscript we have been able to get many valuable points. 
We thank them here, and the use and appreciation of the ideas 
they supplied will be permanent commendation of their knowl- 
edge of fruit growing and their courtesy. 

On the spraying chapters, the help of Mr. G. R. Cushman, 
Baltimore, Md. (of Thomsen Chemical Company), has been 
invaluable; for their criticism on the book in general we are 
indebted to Prof. W. F. Massey, Salisbury, Md.; Prof. H. E. 
Van Deman, Washington, D. C; Mr. W. H. Collingwood, of 
the "Rural New Yorker;" Prof. L. H. Bailey, Ithaca, N. Y.; 
Mr. J. H. Hale, South Glastonbury, Conn.; Mr. Gabriel Hiester, 
Harrisburg, Pa.; Mr. G. P. Miller, Romney, W. Va.; Mr. D. 
Gold Miller, Gerardstown, W. Va.; Mr. D. Maurice Wertz, 
Waynesboro, Pa.; Mr. E. J. Rook, Medina, N. Y.; Mr. Jacob 
R. Edmonds, Hagerstown, Md.; Messrs. Terpenning & Herring, 
Ulster Park, N. Y.; the Department of Entomology of Pennsyl- 
vania, Harrisburg, Pa, 






b^- 



Destined, lurilten and priHted by 
The McFarland Publicity Service, Harrifburg, Pa, 



©CI.A'^n7867 




^''S^H°^fWn'^H^K''^w'"F?- E^POs^re to south and east, yet orchard ideaUy 
located. Owned by W. J. Lewis & Bro., Pittston, Pa. (Photo by W. J. Peck.) 




Pear trees and grape-vines along road. Any fruit trees or vines good for this Practice 
utihzes otherwise waste space. Should be copied everywhere. 




Cowpeas planted in rows for combined soil improvement and pea crop. Applicable to 
any farm. Young apple trees in Harrison s Nurseries. 




Clean cultivation. Clean, whitewashed bark, low, open heads, in Hood River orchard. 

3 




Clean cultivated orchard in Delaware. Higher heads not so desirable as lower ones. 




Splendid care of young trees, and effective Norway Spnu t wmdhnak Ptnns\lvania) 




Young orchards should be cultivated clean. Acme harrow will do the work well. 




Where help and time are scarce, plowing and leaving alternate strips is good practice. 

4 



Harrison's Service to Growers 

You probably know that our nurseries comprise about two 
thousand acres in young fruit trees and strawberry 
plants, and that we own, or have interests in, bearing 
orchards of apples, peaches, pears, etc., which cover four thou- 
sand acres and contain two hundred thousand trees. 

The orchards are scattered here and there over four states. 
Our bearing trees are on mountain land and low land, on all 
slopes, in all kinds of soil. Every kind of disease and every 
sort of "bug" by which fruit trees are affected has to be fought, 
and every known method of cultivation, fertilizing, protect- 
ing, pruning, picking, packing and selling can be found in 
use — at one time or another — in our orchards. 

Starting as many young trees and plants as we do, planting 
and caring for as many orchard trees as we have, we get a 
practical working knowledge of how to grow fruit. We work out 
the thing from planting seeds to receiving the checks for the 
fruit. We know just what our fruit costs. What is said here 
is the most practical kind of hard-won knowledge. 

To decide the merits of a cake, eat a piece of it. Our cake 
has been more than sampled. We have eaten a big piece of 
it — have even made a steady diet of it for thirty years. It is 
delicious and wholesome. This proves that our materials are 
right, our recipe good and our methods correct; for we have 
succeeded in growing good trees, and in growing and selling choice 
fruit — succeeded beyond what most men think is possible. 
Our young trees have come to be the standard for this country. 
Our orchards pay big. 

Three or four years ago the thought came to us that our 
experiences ought to be interesting and valuable to a large 
number of growers and planters of fruit. So we started Harri- 
son's Service Bureau, and invited our friends to ask questions. 
Soon, however, so many questions were asked that nearly 
all of our time was needed to answer them personally, and for 
this reason we designed the first edition of "How To Grow 
Fruit," published year before last. This book contained a digest 
of what we had to say about the common processes of fruit- 
growing — and letters answering most of the queries received. 

Our success with "How To Grow Fruit," the story, has 
been as marked as in propagating fruit trees and in growing 
fruit. So we have decided to go a step further and give the 
public a book along the same lines. This book we call "How 
to Grow and Market Fruit," and it now is in your hands. 
It will anticipate most of your questions, we think, and it may 
tell you things you would like to know, but which you have 
not asked about, for it outlines "how we do it" in most of the 
processes and methods of fruit-culture. Should, however, 
a situation arise which is not provided for in the book, our 
stenographers are "on the job," and we urge you to write 
fully for a personal reply. 

HARRISON'S NURSERIES 

BERLIN. MARYLAND 



The Fourteen Essentials 

READ the entire book. Every chapter, and almost every 
paragraph, is related to every other chapter or paragraph, 
as each phase of fruit-growing is related to every other 
phase. The index will direct you to all the pages on which 
any subject is mentioned. Where a tree, orchard or plant 
is mentioned in the following pages, the discussion often em- 
braces any or all kinds of fruit plantations. 

Fourteen elements, or conditions, are necessary for growing 
all fruit. Each kind needs certain special treatment, yet if 
any of these fourteen elements or conditions are lacking, the 
result is failure, complete or partial; when all are present, and 
the few special attentions are properly given, tremendous 
crops are reasonably certain year after year — crops of highly 
colored, richly flavored, juicy, firm and flawless apples, peaches, 
pears, plums, cherries, quinces, grapes or small fruits. 

The maker of wagons, watches, shoes or other articles must 
have machinery and tools, oil, fuel, power, a supply of raw 
material, and other essentials — a factory and an organization. 
An orchard is a factory; the product is the fruit. By having 
the essentials, we can make fruit. The greatest difference 
between a wagon factory and a fruit factory is this: We can 
make any style of wagon and use any method, but in produc- 
ing fruit we must choose the size and characteristics desired 
from among a few dozen varieties, and secure the finished 
product by following nature's plans. 

Growing fruit is easy, and almost any one can do it, yet 
it is more complicated than wagon-making or watch-making. 
The fruit-grower is forced to adopt or originate ideas and 
methods which fit the conditions; he cannot make the con- 
ditions fit the idea or blueprint. This requires study, obser- 
vation, judgment, work, skill and perseverance. Without these 
the fruit-grower must fail; with them, he can make of fruit- 
growing something better than he could make of anything 
else in the world. 

The fourteen requirements of a fruit factory are suitable 
soil, nitrogen, potash, phosphorus, lime, decaying vegetable 
matter and water, light and warmth in the right proportions, 
the absence of enemies, the right varieties, good trees, good 
marketing and personally applied know-how on the part of 
the grower. 

Every process described here is intended to help the pro- 
ducer secure some of these vital elements with the least pos- 
sible labor and cost. That is the fruit-grower's problem; his 
degree of success depends upon how he solves it, no matter 
what kind of fruit he grows or in what quantities. 



Things Needed by All Fruits Alike 

WHILE each kind of fruit requires special treatment, cer- 
tain primary conditions are necessary for all. Methods 
which produce these conditions with apples, for instance, 
are equally good for the peach orchard or the strawberry patch. 
That which is right for one fruit, within these limits, is right 
for all. 

Of these conditions, the first to be considered is the getting 
and keeping of plant food and of moisture, which requires 
three-fourths of all the effort expended in orchard culture. 
First, we shall consider the question of moisture — of both too 
much and too little water. 

TOO MUCH WATER 

A fruit tree will not yield if water stands about its roots — 
if it has "wet feet." There must be good drainage to lower 
the level of stagnant water in the ground. This is understood 
so generally that nearly every one avoids low or swampy lands, 
or underdrains them thoroughly before setting out trees. 
Because it provides quick natural drainage (ignoring the other 
reasons), sloping land is better than level land for orchards. 

Good natural drainage is greatly to be desired, but seldom 
is found. Even where it is markedly good, the use of tiles will 
give results which warrant putting them in. Generally speak- 
ing, only the highest, steepest land should be left without 
drainage. Flat lands nearly always need underdraining, and 
sloping or rolling land often has a close, hard subsoil which 
keeps water standing near the surface, at the roots of the trees. 

While land may be dry enough in ordinary seasons, in the 
wet season the extra amount and quality of fruit due to under- 
draining often will exceed in value the entire cost of installing 
the drainage. On hillsides, the underdrains frequently will 
prevent washing. In any land, the space around a seepage 
spot or spring may be the most fertile in the field, and the only 
way to make this available is by draining. 

By giving each place the drainage it needs, you can make 
conditions uniform throughout the orchard, adapting the 
entire area to the same cultural methods. If som.e spots are 
hard and sour, while others are loose and dry, they must be 
given different fertilizers and cultivation. 

No matter how rich in plant food a soil may be, too much 
water will render the food useless for trees. Wise folks may 
say the land is too sour or too cold, or needs this or that. No 
matter what the name of the trouble is, you cannot get fruit 
from land that is too wet. Here are some of the reasons: 

Before plant food can be taken up by the roots, much of it 
has to be prepared by bacteria. The best known of these are 
the legume bacteria, without which the clovers, peas and 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

vetch will not thrive. Other bacteria are just as important. 
All are living organisms, the same as animals or plants, but in 
a lower form, and they must have food. They live on vege- 
table matter and some plant-food elements which will not 
dissolve in water. In digesting these foods the bacteria do not 
destroy them; they merely change them into forms in which 
the trees can use them, as hogs or steers transform their foods 
into forms that can be used by the trees. Since nearly all 
plant-food elements must go through this process before they 
are available to plants, the bacteria are vitally necessary. 
When these bacteria die, their bodies are consumed by the 
plants, thus leaving no plant food to go to waste. 

Under proper conditions the soil is full of bacteria, each 
handful containing millions. The most successful fruit-grower 
is the man who puts the soil into a condition favorable to these 
friendly bacteria, and has the greatest number feeding his 
trees and plants. Too much water will destroy the friendly 
bacteria and prevent their coming and multiplying. More- 
over, it will hasten the growth of myriads of bacteria that are 
injurious to plants. 

A wet soil packs. It contains little air. It partakes of the 
nature of a stone or piece of wood, and no one expects trees 
to derive nourishment from these. Favorable conditions help 
fruit trees to thrive; unfavorable conditions not only cut off 
this help, but aid the enemies of the trees. 

The subsoil in an orchard should be loosened at the start, 
and every few years afterward. This is discussed in detail 
later in this book. Drainage helps to keep the soil loose as low 
as the bottom of the ditch, and in dry seasons this loose soil 
retains more moisture than packed soil, because there are more 
open spaces to hold water. 

Drainage improves the texture of the soil, and has the effect 
of making it more fertile. The food elements in mellow soil 
can be used by the trees, while, if the soil is caked, the roots can- 
not get the food that is there. With a good drainage system, 
surplus water will run away quickly after the frost is out of 
the ground in the spring, and the soil will be dry enough to 
work much earlier than land not underdrained. Make up 
your mind to drain at the start; the young trees need it, and 
the work can be done more easily then. 

The material to use foi drains depends upon circumstances. 
Study the lay and character of the land, secure prices on dif- 
ferent materials from home and other sources, learn about 
freight rates and labor, and then select that which will be 
cheapest for the service which it gives. 

In very loose soil, cement drains throughout the orchard 
have been known to pay. Where the fall is more than one foot 
in one hundred, stone, lumber or tile will be satisfactory. 
A buried stone wall will carry off the water where there is a 
decided fall; but, if the slope is less than one foot in one hun- 
dred, use nothing except tile. 

The bottoms of drains should be at least two feet deep 
in heavy clay and three feet deep in sand. They should be as 

8 



TOO LITTLE WATER IN THE SOIL 

deep as possible and still catch the heavy rains before they 
cause surface washing. Whether they should be put between 
every row of trees, between every two or three rows, or only 
in the low places, depends upon how much water must be 
carried away. 

Water wants to run downhill. If the land is nearly flat use 
a level to find an outlet. Usually you will be surprised about 
the fall. Try to get an outlet which has plenty of drop-way, 
but it is better to drain into an open ditch which requires care 
two or three times a year than not to drain at all. No point 
in the drain should be lower than the outlet, and the grade 
should be perfect— without ups and downs. A fall of from 
three to six inches in one hundred feet will give good service, 
but with so slight a drop you should use a surveyor's level 
in getting the bottom of the ditch right. Drive stakes every 
fifty or one hundred feet, having the tops flush with the ground 
and measure the depth of the drain from these. ' 

A six-inch main will carry off the water from a twelve-acre 
field. No main drains should be smaller than five inches. 
Laterals should be from two and one-half to three inches iii 
diameter. 

Examine the mouths of all drains a couple of times a year, 
to keep them free from obstructions. Put wire screening over 
the openings, to keep out animals, frogs and snakes. 

It is well to plow a furrow, every fall, midway between rows 
of trees where there is no drain. This, with the tiles and ditches, 
will keep the orchard during the winter and early spring in 
better shape than an orchard where the snow and rain fall 
on the even surface. 

TOO LITTLE WATER 

Lack of water during May, June and July starves more 
trees, and is responsible for more poor fruit, than any other 
cause. This is due to the fact that growers do not realize how 
much water a tree requires, and do not know how to prevent 
the waste of what they have. Even trees near a hydrant or 
pump are allowed to suffer, while a few gallons of water 
daily would enable them to produce a heavy crop. 

In the drier sections of the United States, trees often suffer 
least, because growers there know how to keep the little rain 
that they do get. In all the eastern and central states, the 
rainfall IS always sufficient to produce a heavy crop of leaves 
and fruits. Most of this comes in the winter and early spring; 
the problem is to keep it. In the West, irrigation is necessary, 
out It will not pay in the East unless the water can be run on 
the land easily. Bulletin No. ii6 of the United States De- 
partment of Agriculture discusses irrigation at length. If you 
want to put water on your land, get that bulletin. 

A few growers of strawberries have used "artificial rain" 
profitably. This is best supplied with three-quarter inch iron 
pipes, pierced with needle holes every few inches, and laid 
on the surface of the ground; or, better, elevated out of the 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

way. With the pipe on supports, a fine rain will fall whenever 
the water is turned on. 

Plants and trees require from three hundred to five hundred 
pounds of water for every pound of dry matter grown. But that 
does not tell what we want to know — how much water fruit 
trees need. The following Btatements are based on long and 
careful experiments made in America, England and Germany. 

Trees use water in two ways — by putting it into fruit and 
leaves, and by evaporation through the leaves. A stream of 
water constantly flows up every growing tree and evaporates 
through the leaves. 

Apples need about three times as much water as peaches, 
and other fruits come between the two. To grow one ton of 
green timothy requires more than one hundred and fifty tons 
of water. Apples and apple leaves are more juicy than timothy 
stalks. If we take one hundred barrels (250 bushels) of apples 
as the yield per acre, we have a little more than six tons of 
fruit. The leaves and new v/ood on an acre would weigh at 
least a ton, so seven tons is a fair average of the weight of the 
orchard product from one acre. 

If apples use water at the same rate as timothy, the trees 
on one acre will require ten hundred and fifty tons of water, 
which would make a layer more than nine inches deep. 

The average rainfall between March and August, in all 
fruit regions of this country which do not depend upon irriga- 
tion, varies from fifteen to twenty inches. That moisture 
which comes before March the frozen crust prevents from 
soaking into the soil; that coming after August is of no use to 
the crop. There is no way of determining how much evapo- 
rates from the soil or how much drains away; what is known 
is that nine inches must be kept for the use of trees, or the 
crop will suflfer. 

Most of the feeding roots of fruit trees or vines are in the 
first thirty-six inches of soil. Anchor roots go deeper, but 
gather moisture and food for their own use only. This thirty- 
six inches of soil must be loosened so it will contain at least 
a foot of water, for allowance must be made for evaporation 
throughout the summer. The first three feet must be even 
looser than this, as the soil must contain a certain quantity 
of air for the use of the roots. In other words, the first three 
feet must consist of one foot of water and less than two feet 
of earth. The exact number of inches does not matter; the 
principle is to have enough water, with drainage to take care 
of the surplus. 

The soil must be fine and loose; fine, because the smaller 
the soil particles are, the more water will cling to them; loose 
down deep, because the particles unite when they are packed, 
squeezing the water out and preventing it from circulating. 
Roots will not grow into solid masses of earth when they can 
find their way into loose soil. 

Still another, and most important, reason for providing 
plenty of moisture in the soil, is that moisture is necessary to 
make the plant food available. The amount of this food in 

10 



METHODS OF KEEPING MOISTURE 



the soil does not indicate hov/ much plant growth that soil 
will produce. Put pure nitrogen, potash and phosphorus on 
a stone, a board or a lump of dry dirt, and the heap will not 
produce anything, although it is exceedingly "rich and fertile." 
You can pile fertilizer upon your acres by the ton, but you 
must see that the soil is in a receptive condition before you 
can hope to have the plant foods do their work. 

When the thirtj'^-six inches of soil is made fine enough and 
loose enough to hold the foot of water, it is in pretty good shape 
to feed the roots. The water which surrounds every particle 
of soil dissolves the crude elements, finishing the work of the 
bacteria, and serves foods to the plants in digestible form. 
Feeding roots need not touch all the food; if the water can 
dissolve the food, it will bring it to the roots as it is needed. 
Without enough moisture the soil would be hard and un- 
friendly. Nothing is so important to the crop as water. Every 
pint lacking means the loss of fruit. 

The right methods make it easy to keep all the water neces- 
sary; with wrong methods, or no method, it is impossible to 
have enough, unless rain falls every few days during the grow- 
ing season, which seldom happens. Unlike other essentials, 
the keeping of the necessary moisture does not cost much, 
for this really is accomplished by work that should be done 
in any circumstances. 

Ground that is hard on the surface and undisturbed below 
cannot hold two inches of water in the first three feet. This 
would be too little even for peaches. There is water more than 
three feet down, of course, and seme of this is brought up by 
capillarity, but because of the compact earth there and the 
distance from the feeding roots, little from this source ever 
benefits the trees. 

Capillarity is the attraction which some substances have 
for others. It causes a drop of water to cling to or run along the 
bottom edge of a slanting board, rather than fall straight 
down. It makes oil follow a wick up to a flame. Only when 
capillarity is working well in the soil can evaporation steal 
that vital nine inches of water from you. 

The example of the lamp-wick shows another force — the 
attraction of dryer air and sunshine for soil moisture. These 
draw up water constantly, except for a few hours during nights 
when heavy dew covers the ground. Even then the soil con- 
tinues to send moisture to the surface, if it had been doing 
that during the day, and the air must continue to absorb it, 
as is shown by the fact that a wet cloth laid on the ground 
during a damp evening will dry during the night. 

METHODS OF KEEPING MOISTURE 

Professor L. H. Bailey of the College of Agriculture of 
New York has explained this subject so plainly that any one 
can understand it. He says: 

"How shall we save the water? By holding it in the earth. 
If the soil is very fine and yet compact, the capillary pores or 

II 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

small open spaces between particles will hold enormous quan- 
tities of water. If, then, we break up these open spaces on the 
surface next the atmosphere, we shall prevent the water from 
passing off by evaporation. 

"The whole subject of saving moisture, therefore, falls 
into two means. The catching and holding of it (or the making 
of a reservoir), and the prevention of evaporation. The first 
thing to do, therefore, is to plow or loosen up the soil and sub- 
soil to a sufficient depth. When we have the water, we must 
then work the surface in such a way that we can keep it. 

"It will thus be seen how useless it is to try to save the 
water by beginning tillage when a drought is threatened. If 
the land has not been prepared, there will be little water to 
save by that time. It will either have soaked away through 
the soil into drains, or it will have evaporated long before the 
need of it was noticed. 

"The hardpan may be so near the surface that but little 
water will stay in the soil. The dish-pan formed by it is so 
shallow that the spring and early summer rains make mud 
puddles on the surface and pass off before the water is needed 
by the trees. Such soil needs to be plowed very deeply, and 
the subsoil broken up to increase the storage capacity for 
water. 

"If the soil is sandy, soft and leachy, shallow breaking up 
is the thing needed. Such soil may be loosened too much. 
The water-storage capacity of soils may be increased by mixing 
humus or vegetable matter with them. It will thus be seen 
that the methods of conserving or saving moisture for the time 
when it is needed by the trees or plants must be thought out 
and worked out by each grower for his own place. 

"Any body or substance which is interposed between the 
air and moist soil will prevent evaporation of the moisture. 
The ground is moist underneath a board, so is it underneath 
a layer of sawdust or of ashes; and so is it underneath a layer 
of two or three inches of fine, dry earth. Shallow cultivation 
will make a mulch of this kind on the surface. The orchardist 
should work the land as often as it begins to get hard and 
crusted — as a fit statement, it may be said that fruit lands 
ought to be worked every ten days, also after every rain, before 
a crust forms. Land allowed to lie bare over winter will weather 
rapidly, but clay-lands of a lighter nature will gully badly." 

Land which lies rough-ploughed over winter will take up lots 
of water, but no more than it will if it is covered with crimson 
clover, peas, vetch, rye, or any other cover crop, and these 
crops have many other invaluable advantages. Cover crops 
save moisture. They must be put in during July; then, by the 
time the plants begin to draw water, the trees do not need it, 
in fact, should be checked. Then, if the crop is of a kind not 
killed by the winter, it will grow up very rank in the spring 
and help dry off the land early by absorbing water. It always 
must be plowed under early in spring — about as soon as the 
ground is fit to work — or it will rob the trees of water and 
food, and do much more damage than it does good. 

12 




Home fruit and flower garden worth twenty times its cost. Dwarf trees are most suitable. 




Clover as soil improvement and cover crop. Note superior care given young trees. 




Stone wall buried here, providing drainage. Orchard of W. J. Lewis & Bro., Pittston, Pa. 




Harrison Ray peach orchard, August. Left: Cover crop. Right: Asparagus inter-crop. 

13 







Beans as inter- and cover-crop among apples. Gives soil improvement and cash returns. 







■*» *t X "■ 



Strawberries as inter-crop among apple trees. This oi chard is irrigated. 




Action of proper charge of dynamite correctly placed for subsoiling (and sometimes for 
digging tree holes) . Ground heaved, not thrown out and scattered. 



14 



METHODS OF KEEPING MOISTURE 

To put soil into shape to store water, subsoiling should be 
done thoroughly before trees are planted, and every couple of 
years afterward until they are ten years old. If it is done with 
a plow, the first subsoiling the year before trees are planted 
should cover the whole area; at the next, the year after the 
trees are planted, a four-foot strip should be left where trees 
are, and later the plowing should be narrower each time until 
the last time only one or two subsoil furrows should be plowed 
midway between tree rows. Subsoil plowing helps greatly 
to hold moisture, but there are other reasons for doing it. 
Subsoiling with dynamite is a thoroughly practical method, 
and should be employed on three-fourths of the farms of the 
East. 

An underdrain midway between tree rows wonderfully 
helps the soil to store moisture by keeping the earth porous 
and fine. During the winter and spring the surplus water 
sinks into the earth to the level of the drain, where it falls, 
then finds its way horizontally to the drain. In doing this 
it opens and makes fine the soil it passes through, and the 
spaces remain filled with water until the roots draw it out. 

Another moisture holder is humus. Decaying grass stalks 
always are damp, and they, too, loosen the soil. Earth which 
is full of them seldom becomes so dry as pure clay or sand. 
Pure loam is nothing more or less than humus. Mulches of 
all kirids plowed under will fill the soil with moisture-retaining 
material, and at the same time will make it more and more 
loamy. A heavy, stiff clay can be almost transformed in this 
way, because the moisture helps to disintegrate the cruder 
earth into loose loam. Humus helps to drain away the sur- 
plus water, and helps to hold that necessary nine inches. 

By far the best way to loosen subsoil is with dynamite. 
This is not generally known, but orchardists will find they can 
reduce tillage expenses greatly and save much time with it. 
The exploding of from a sixth to a half pound of the right 
kind, two or three feet under the surface, loosens and makes 
fine all the soil. Young trees will make great strides if they 
are planted in dynamited holes. 

The dynamiting can be done in orchards or about trees of 
any age. If done rightly, it will accomplish the work without 
breaking or tearing away any roots, leaving the soil in con- 
dition to give the roots twice the feeding-ground they had 
before and providing perfect drainage and water-storing capac- 
ity. The use of dynamite is the secret of success in growing 
fruit by mulching systems without so much plow and harrow 
tillage. This is the only way known by which soil can be loosened 
deeply after trees fill the space with roots, and often it is the 
cheapest and quickest way to loosen it at any time. Heavy 
clay lands are handled especially well by this method; in sand 
the advantages are least. With only plowing and drainage 
to rely on, one thorough subsoiling has to last during the life 
of the orchards. Good results can be depended upon for many 
years, but when signs point to the soil becoming too compact, 
dynamite will loosen it up as easily as at first, even though 

IS 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

the trees are large. See further information about dynamite 
on pages 34 and 37. 

A mulch of some kind (dust, dead grass, weeds, etc.) is 
needed to insulate the moisture from the air. In ail sections 
where the rainfall between March to August does not exceed 
from sixteen to eighteen inches, tillage and cover crops are 
best adapted to retain moisture. The land should be plowed 
in April or May, turning under the cover crop, then gone over 
immediately with a Cutaway, spring-tooth or Acme harrow, 
and then harrowed with spike-tooth every eight or ten days 
until in July. The new cover crop should be sown in July, 
partly to use the remaining moisture. The trees do not need 
water after that time. They should begin then to ripen wood 
and fruit. 

Only two or three harrowings with the spring-tooth are 
needed. The teeth should go about three inches deep, and a 
leveler-drag should be attached to the harrow. For the remain- 
ing times use a spike-tooth harrow. A roller should be used 
but little, except on very light soil, and should be followed 
at once by a smoothing harrow. A day or so after every rain, 
harrow to break the crust, even if you had finished just before 
the rain. Never allow a baked crust to form, for it will quickly 
suck the water out of the soil beneath. 

The whole idea, so far as moisture is concerned, is to keep 
a layer of dust-dry, powdered soil two to three inclDes deep on 
the surface all the time. As it is not handy to dig around each 
tree every time you harrow, and impossible to harrow with 
any satisfaction closer to a tree than a foot or eighteen inches, 
a heavy mulch of leaves, straw or dead grass should be placed 
around each tree. Young trees especially need this, since 
they have small root systems, and the soil right where they 
stand dries out quickly. This mulch is a great labor-saver, 
and does the work well. 

In sections where the rainfall from March to August is as 
much as twenty inches, the sod mulch system is, without doubt, 
the best way of taking care of the moisture problem in an 
orchard. The essence of this system is to grow between the 
trees enough grass to nearly supply the trees with plant food 
when it decays. A little commercial fertilizer is added. No 
part of the grass is taken away. It is mowed two or three 
times a season and most of the cutting raked up and piled 
under the trees. Sometimes this mulch is eighteen inches deep 
under the trees and for a few feet outside in a circle, although 
over the rest of the ground an inch or two is all that should 
be left. The ground under it always is moist. Each season's 
growth is worked into the surface of the soil by frost and water 
(or by a cutaway harrow) thus providing another moisture 
holder. It is in connection with a complete sod mulch system 
that dynamite is most valuable, in ways any grower can see, 
for the ground never is plowed or torn up. 

At least six inches of water are needed to grow this heavy 
crop of grass, hence no less than eighteen inches of rain will 
be enough for a mulch sod system. If the grass contains much 

16 



METHODS OF KEEPING MOISTURE 

clover, more water will be needed. Care must be used in dry 
sections and seasons to mow the grass sufficiently early in 
spring, and to keep it mowed more or less close to prevent it 
drawing too much water from the soil. It must be remembered 
that the necessary eighteen inches or more of rainfall must 
come between the spring breakup and August i, and not in 
a whole year. This method certainly takes less work than 
cultivation. It should be considered by every one where con- 
ditions warrant its use. Thorough underdrainage should 
accompany it. 

SUMMARY 

Trees must not have wet feet. The level of stagnant water 
in soil must be, at the very least, two or three feet down, if 
trees are to bear worth while. 

Too much water destroys friendly bacteria that are necessary 
to put plant foods into forms in which trees can use them. 

Too much water renders plant food useless by changing it 
chemically and by caking soil. 

Carefully laid underdrains are almost an orchard necessity, 
and do good in many ways. 

Breaking up hardpan helps drainage. Cover crops help to 
dry off land in early spring. 

Apple trees must have at least enough water to make a layer 
a foot deep, and this must be held in the top thirty-six inches 
of soil. Other fruits can get along with slightly less, but must 
have enough. 

Too little water starves trees directly by allowing them to 
dry up, and to even a greater extent by making it impossible 
for roots to get the food in the soil. Plant foods and fertilizers are 
of no use unless they continually are accompanied by enough 
moisture to dissolve them and insure that they soak to the roots. 

There is always enough rainfall between March and August 
to grow big crops, if it is rightly conserved. Right methods 
make this easy, wrong methods make it impossible. 

To store enough water, ground must be broken up deeply, 
thoroughly and often; and to avoid its escape the surface 
must be worked and kept in a dust mulch, to prevent evapora- 
tion during the growing season, if other mulch is not used. This 
conservation tillage must begin early in spring, while ground is 
still damp, and must be done every ten days or after every rain 
till in July or August. 

Organic matter in the soil helps to hold moisture. 

With sod-mulch systems, the grass must be mowed often to 
prevent its using up the moisture intended to be saved. 



17 



Feeding Fruit Trees 

PROFESSOR BAILEY has put so many of the facts of this 
subject into clear and lucid words that he deserves to 
be quoted freely. In stating the situation he says this: 

"Any land which is fit for the growing of crops will main- 
tain a fruit plantation throughout its existence without the 
addition of plant-food, and enable the trees to produce at the 
same time a normal quantity of fruit. But the profit in fruit- 
growing lies in securing the extra quantity and superior qual- 
ity, and this result demands fertilizing of the land and every 
other good care. The extra quality and extra quantity seem 
to depend a great deal on the fertility we supply." 

When we remove fifteen or more bushels of fruit from a 
tree every year, we are going beyond "normal quantities," 
and additional plant-food will be required because of this. 
Nitrogen, phosphorus and potash are the principal foods on 
which fruit trees live. A few other minerals, almost always 
present, enter into their diet, but in quantities so small that 
they may be overlooked. The soil is the table at which they 
eat, while water and tillage, sunlight and air, are the cooks. 
Each food must be supplied in the right quantity, in the right 
proportion with others, and in the right way, if the trees are 
to thrive. 

Food elements must be given in the right condition, as 
partly explained in the talk on moisture, or trees cannot con- 
sume them. Hay, raw meat, or raw and unground grain con- 
tain all the elements needed for men, but men would not thrive 
on them. It is just as important to "grind and cook" the 
nitrogen, potash and phosphorus for trees as it is to grind 
and cook meat and wheat for yourself. We cannot make fruit 
out of plant-food elements until they are refined. 

Now, to grind and cook and refine plant-food elements, we 
must have them dissolved in water. Carry them in soil that 
is just as fine as it can be made, and that contains no acids 
which work harmful results. We get them dissolved by saving 
enough moisture for use at the right time. To have them 
distributed well through fine soil, tillage or other subduing 
methods must be employed. 

At the beginning of the earth, all soil was rock. Gradually 
this was worn down, until moss and plants got a foothold, 
grew and died, mixing their dead leaves and stalks with the 
coarse soil year after year until now there is much fine, silky 
loam. The hardest soils are the same as the best, except that 
the lumpy or sticky ones have not had as much treatment 
from water, air and sun as the better kinds. This explains 
why the kind of soil never is very important so long as proper 
care is taken. 

Bailey explains soil processes in this way: "Nature is a 
kindly and solicitous mother. She knows that the elements 
must be unlocked and worked over and digested by the roots 
of plants. Plant tissues add fiber and richness to the land, 

i8 




Left: Newly-set strawberry field, across rows, Kight: Ground prepared for asparagus. 




Tomatoes as inter-crop in combined apple and peach orchard. Splendid inter-crop. 






Sod 


-mulch 


system in 


apple 


orchard. 


Ltft; 


Grass mowed and left under trees. 










V^^'^^' i 


J 








""'""^^3fe^ 




*iu 


m 




1 








H 




1 








H 


m 


|HB|^^Kk 


;'« 








|Hi 




















..»:;- . 










,.. O^: ','■/' •;;'. 





Sod-mulch — wet season, grass left grow high. Seven-year trees of W. J. Lewis & Bro, 

19 




,JIL 



r.^£^*I^.Mvw»'- -^^ »^ »jg 



.**►•««•»••* - 



*c„..,.,#«!:ij£a|(»s^ 



Orchard back next woods yields $2,000 net per year. Bad location considering insects. 

^7 




Three-year trees of W. J. Lewis & Bro. J!iote apples on tree (Stayman Winesap) 




Lett: Jb'sve-year tree in Harrison orchard, bearing 388 apples. Right: Clean cultivation. 




How to handle sod-mulch system with young trees. Note mulch is pulled back from trunk. 

20 



LIME ACTION IS VITALLY NEEDED 

and make it amenable to all the revivifying influences of sun 
and rain and air and warmth. The plant is copartner with 
the weather in the building of the primal soils. The lichen 
spreads its thin substance over the rock, sending its fibers 
into the crevices and filling the chinks, as they enlarge, with 
the decay of its own structure; and finally the rod: is fit for the 
moss or fern or creeping vine, each newcomer leaving its im- 
press by which some later newcomer may profit. Finally the 
rock is disintegrated and pulverized, and is ready to be still 
further subdued by corn and ragweed, by other plants, or 
trees." 

Thus it becomes plain that to feed our trees we first must 
work our ground — tear it up deeply and thoroughly pulverize 
it. We must fill it full of dead grass and leaves in order to 
change its texture — to change that old rock nature to loam 
nature. This must be done to give roots a chance to take up 
any food the soil carries. The soil itself never is food for plants. 

This is where all processes work together. To conserve 
moisture, we work the land. To drain, we work the land. To 
do both of these, we use dynamite and heavy mulches. When 
we save or get rid of water, we grind and mix the soil, which 
is exactly the treatment the soil needs to improve its texture. 
So far, so good; but often, to get enough fineness and mixing, 
the treatment has to be continued after it could be stopped 
so far as moisture is concerned. 

LIME ACTION 

We should like to say here, "The decay of vegetable and 
animal matter produces some acids." That statement would 
be clear to most people, but it is not correct. There is no such 
thing as decay of these organic materials. Wherever a piece 
of meat, a stalk of grass or a leaf is touched by moisture in 
or on the ground, millions of bacteria attack it. They swarm 
to it from every surrounding particle of earth, and feed upon it 
until seemingly it disappears. In reality it does not disappear, 
but is changed into other forms by the bacteria, helped to a 
slight extent by the chemical action of minerals. The work 
of bacteria is like that of the buzzards, which gather from every- 
where and consume a dead body. 

Organic matter is added to the soil in the form of manures, 
leaves, rotting fruit, plowed-down cover crops, grass and 
weeds, mulches, bone phosphate, etc. In consuming these, 
bacteria produce acids. These acids change plant-food from 
available into insoluble forms, kill the bacteria which produced 
them and which are needed, and in other ways hinder or pre- 
vent plant growth. 

Organic matter is necessary, yet we must get rid of the acids. 
Lime is the thing to do it with. The action of lime is called 
sweetening. The work lime does is to deaden the acids by 
taking away their "edge," making them incapable of doing 
harm. Wet soils generally are especially acid. 

The wood of fruit trees contains lime, in a form almost 

31 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

pure. Leaves and fruit have only a trace, but fruit will grow and 
mature in a shorter time, and therefore ripen earlier, or rather 
more completely and uniformly, when trees have plenty of lime 
than it will when they do not. The fruit also is likely to have 
a higher color. For these reasons, lime can be said to have a 
small food value. It can hardly be classed with the foods, 
however, and its chief value comes indirectly. 

Lime should be worked into the surface of the ground — 
never plowed under. Harrow or disk it in. It should be put 
on evenly, with a lime spreader or drill whenever possible. 
On sod, even distribution over surface is all that is needed. 
It may go on at any time in the year, but better avoid the 
months from July until November, as then it might, by re- 
leasing insoluble plant food, result in forcing fall growth 
of trees — a bad thing always. From 500 to 1,000 pounds to 
the acre, 16 to 35 bushels, will produce a good effect on light 
land. Generally it is profitable to use a ton or more, say 50 to 
80 bushels, on an acre of heavy land. The amount to use 
depends on the kind of soil. The amount of humus in the soil 
largely determines the amount of lime to use. Light land will 
be burned by using more than 20 to 25 bushels. With heavy 
clover or other sod to act upon, you can use lime more liber- 
ally. 

Pulverized lime usually is the best form in which to buy and 
use lime. Lump lime, air-slaked in piles, or new-process lime, 
which is lump lime slaked by steam, are good also, although only 
90 per cent as efficient, and twice as heavy and twice as bulky. 
A pound of ground limestone will do half the work of a pound 
of lime. In using ground limestone, there is more than double 
the weight to handle. The best form in which to buy depends 
on three things — the cost to you, the freight to your field, and 
the efficiency, or "strength," of what you get. 

Every orchardist must learn the supreme importance of 
serving food to his trees on a table properly laid. Trees are 
particular. By continued study of actual conditions, and by 
accumulating outside information, every one can learn what 
to do to put his soil into the right shape. 

SUPPLYING PLANT FOOD 

In feeding trees, the first things to consider, after putting 
the soil into the best shape possible, are the needs of your 
particular orchard. No two pieces of land are alike. Wide 
differences often will be found within a hundred yards, and 
these varying conditions call for the food elements in varying 
proportions. 

When trees have dark leaves, bright-colored bark, and grow 
a foot or more of new wood each year, they are getting about 
enough nitrogen, and all you have to do is to keep the supply 
at the present rate. It is possible to provide too much nitro- 
gen, especially in bearing orchards. Trees are suffering from 
a lack of nitrogen when the leaves are light-colored and when 
they ripen and fall early in autumn, when the bark is dull 

32 



HOW TO SUPPLY PLANT FOODS 

and dark, and when the new wood each season is less than a 
foot long. 

Lack of potash and of lime is shown by sappy growth, by 
many suckers, and by pale, tasteless, unripe fruit. Fruit trees 
use less of phosphorus than of the other food elements — 
probably only one-fifth of the number of pounds and of the 
value of it, as of nitrogen, and one-sixth, as of potash. Phos- 
phorus goes into fruit, leaves and wood. Potash is the most 
important of the elements. Potash and phosphorus are min- 
eral materials, and have to be supplied in chemical form. Nitro- 
gen is supplied best by legumes — by the cover crops. 

Cover crops should be called "fertility crops," for, while 
they are useful in preventing washing and leaching, cement- 
ing and baking, and in the holding of moisture, their greatest 
value lies in their power to add directly to the richness of the 
soil. Some of the plants adapted to the purpose supply nitro- 
gen, and all supply organic matter — supply these materials 
cheaper than they can be had from any other source. The 
aim in solving a cover crop is to plant it long enough before 
killing frost to enable it to make a good, thick growth in the 
fall. If the plant is one that winter-kills, this makes little dif- 
ference; but, if it grows again in the spring, more vegetable 
matter will be had before time to plow it down. 

The stalks, leaves and roots add several tons of organic 
matter to the soil. This is placed right where it will do the 
most good — in the upper foot of soil, — whether the crop is 
plowed under or disked in. It does its work, as has been ex- 
plained before, by improving the texture of the earth, by hold- 
ing moisture, by making a home for bacteria, and by returning 
to the soil the plant-foods which it gathered through its roots, 
together with new nitrogen gathered by the leaves. 

All the legumes gather nitrogen from the air, and store it 
in every fiber of the plant. One good clover, pea or vetch 
crop will give your acre as much of this high-priced plant-food 
as you will get in $20 worth of any commercial fertilizer. Le- 
gumes use potash and phosphorus, of course, but they do not 
waste it if they are left on the land — they return it whence 
it came. This is true of all cover-crop plants. The foods which 
they consume are only loaned to them over winter. In the 
spring all the materials come back for the use of the trees, 
with added nitrogen in the case of legumes, and with pro- 
tection and physical soil improvement from all kinds of cover 
plants. 

A cover crop is sown in the latter part of the summer, when 
trees have made their growth for the year, and when both 
fruit and trees have begun to ripen. Newly sown plants take 
up water in great amounts — take it away from the trees. This 
is the thing desired at this time, for tree growth needs a 
check then. But, still better, young plants require a great deal 
of nitrogen, but comparatively less potash and phosphorus. 
As the cover crop grows, it feeds largely on the nitrogen, less 
on the other elements, leaving much potash and phosphorus 
for the trees, just when they need them most. 

23 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

It is potash and phosphorus \vhich put color in fruit, 
which give it the rich flavor, and which harden the wood of 
trees so they can stand zero weather. We build the framework 
and size of our apples or peaches or grapes with nitrogen, but 
we put the high quality in them with the two other foods, and 
to a slight extent with lime. In this, when analyzed, lies the 
explanation of why a sod-mulched tree will put a higher color 
on its fruit than a cultivated one; also why a cultivated tree 
generally is the larger. Sod-mulched orchards generally, com- 
paratively speaking, lack nitrogen, and have plenty of potash 
and phosphorus, while in cultivated orchards this condition 
is likely to be reversed, or has that tendency unless corrected. 

In our judgment, the orcharding system best to use is the 
one that will combine the good points of these two methods, 
giving trees or plants the growing material — nitrogen — in 
the greatest proportions before July, and the ripening and 
quality producing materials — potash and phosphorus — later. 

While cover crops absorb plant-food in the fall, they are 
doing another good act. The food they use generally is in 
available form; that is, ready dissolved, in solution. If it were 
to be left in this shape over winter, much of it would leach 
away; but, when the cover plants use it, they lock it up until 
spring, and so prevent its waste. 

These are the principal reasons why cover crops are so 
valuable in orcharding. Each man must study his own situa- 
tion, decide what his trees need, and plan the best and cheapest 
way to get these materials. The best sources of the needed 
plant-foods will be found now in one form of the elements, 
again in another. Even one kind of cover crop will not do, 
year after year, so well as rotation of them. 

Again Bailey has stated a point so clearly that we can not 
do better than quote him: "The choice of the proper crop 
for the covering of an orchard is a local matter, the same as 
the determination of the method of tillage or the kind of fer- 
tilizer is. There is no one cover crop which is best for all pur- 
poses and all conditions. The grower must study the condi- 
tion of his trees and his land, and then judge as best he may 
what course he shall pursue. 

"Nature's cover crops, at least upon farms, are weeds, and 
these may be useful if allowed to grow in the fall after the 
tillage is completed. The difficulty is that they cannot always 
be relied upon to cover the land at the time when they are 
wanted, most of them do not live through the winter, and they 
are very likely to become a serious nuisance. It is therefore 
best to substitute some other plant for the weeds. 

"In the question of the choice of cover crops, the grower 
must remember that there are two great classes in respect 
to their power to gather nitrogen. The one class is non-legu- 
minous, comprising those plants which take only such '^.itrogen 
as has already been worked over into available form by plants 
and animals; the other class is the leguminous plants, com- 
prising those which have the power of appropriating and 
utilizing free nitrogen. 

24 




11 w*; • 

■ I-— ^«^ ..t 



.-^V^P' •■> ffTJg^ 



Strawberries as paying inter-crop Apple trees two years old, bearing a few apples. 




Tomato crop raised in this young orchard will be worth $60 an acre net each year. 




Plank drag that does great work in conserving moisture. Useful for many crops. 




Clean cultivation, proper heading of trees and good orchard arrangement of trees, 

25 




Left: Five-year tree planted in ordinary dug hole. Right: Five-year tree not fifty yards 
away, planted in dynamited hole. Pole eight feet high. 




Diagonal planting plan, with fillers. No. i trees, permanent; No. 2 trees, to be removed 
when 10 to 12 years old; No. 3 trees, to be removed when 18 or 20 years old. 




In South, heel-in like this, but in North cover tops and all with dirt — use no straw, or 
mice will nest there and chew trees. 

26 



HOW TO SUPPLY PLANT FOODS 

"For purposes of cover and protection, the non-leguminous 
crops may be just as good as the nitrogen gatherers, and when 
the fruit trees or plants are growing very vigorously they may 
be decidedly better than the others, because, by not adding 
nitrogen, they do not over-stimulate the growth. A rotation 
of cover crops will nearly always be found to be important. 
It is perfectly possible to put so much nitrogen into the land 
that the trees or plants grow too vigorously or too late in the 
season." 

Some of the most useful of these cover crops will not thrive 
on hard and intractable land, and in such cases a rougher and 
coarser crop must be used. Bailey says further that "the 
golden scale of cover crops for orchards begins with rye and 
ends with crimson clover." In saying this he, no doubt, had 
in mind the condition of most lands — which are hard, intract- 
able, lacking in humus and poverty-stricken in many ways 
at iirst, then becoming more mellow, richer and better drained, 
as orcharding processes are worked out, until finally the soil 
is in good condition. 

Rye, it will be seen, is preeminently the cover crop for 
rough, unsubdued land, while crimson clover is at its best 
in fine, mellow, fertile soil. Buckwheat and Indian corn can 
be used instead of rye, but they are harder to plow down. 
The corn should be sown broadcast. Turnips and rape also 
will make a complete cover on hard land. All of these crops 
should be sown in July or August, or about six weeks before 
a killing frost, and all of them will cover the ground com- 
pletely before they are frozen down. 

But these crops are makeshifts. When we use them, it is 
because the finer, true cover-crop plants will not do well, for 
some reason connected with the land which we wish to pro- 
tect and improve. The idea is to build up the soil by the use 
of these coarser plants to the point where the better ones will 
do their best work. None of these coarse crops should be used 
continuously, year after year. 

The legumes, comprising all the clovers, vetch, cowpeas, 
Canada peas, and common field beans, are the cover plants 
which gather nitrogen, and at the same time give the protec- 
tion and the organic matter supplied by the others. Common 
field beans, Canada peas and cowpeas can be sown on coarser 
lands than the clovers because their seeds are larger and a 
catch is surer. Peas and clover mixed form a good combi- 
nation. Clover with rye and the other non-legumes also is good. 
Where clover and peas are used together, the peas will be killed 
by frost, leaving the clover in possession. 

If legumes are sown ^x to eight weeks before killing frost, 
the plants will grow thickly and cover the ground in fine shape. 
Plenty of seed should be used, especially of cowpeas, of which 
the Black and Whip-poor-will varieties are the best for the 
North. All varieties do well in the South. Canada peas will 
stand much cold, and will grow later into the fall than cow- 
peas. All peas except Canada are hot-weather plants and will 
make a rank growth even in dry weather. 

27 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

Vetch should be sown from July i to Sept. i. It is pretty 
sure to catch, is a legume, like peas and clover, and sown 
then it will be knee-high and very thick in the fall. Heavy 
frost does not kill it, and it will start again in the spring. This 
mat plows down easily in the spring, even though it will have 
made a good growth by April. 

Mammoth, common red and alsike clover never reach their 
best until they have occupied the land for more than a year. 
It is true that they will make a fairly good growth by winter 
if they are sown near the first of July, but, unless conditions 
indicate that the orchard needs a rest for a year, other cover-crop 
plants will be found to do the same work better. 

Crimson clover, on the other hand, is an annual. It com- 
pletes its natural growth in a year from the time of sowing, 
and is not killed by the winter. When it is sown in July a good 
growth will be made before winter sets in, and again in the 
spring before time to plow, which will be as soon as the land is 
dry enough. This gives more organic matter with which to 
loosen up the soil, and gives a longer period from which the 
plant can gather nitrogen from the air. 

Crimson clover is the best clover plant we have for sections 
south of the line of Trenton, N. J. The only limitations to 
its use are those of its habits. It will not always catch in poor 
or rough land, nor is its catching at all sure more than four 
out of seven times north of the line named. Usually a certain 
amount of soil-fertility building has to be done before it will 
succeed. If you find that crimson clover will thrive and make 
a thick cover on your land, you do not need to experiment with 
other crops, as you have the best there is. Crimson clover 
should be sown from July 15 to August 15 in the Middle At- 
lantic states, earlier north, later south. In Pennsylvania and 
north, peas or some other cover-crop plant should be sown with 
it. 

The following figures show the approximate quantities of 
seed which are recommended per acre for cover crops in young 
orchards. Old orchards will need less: 

Barley 2 to 2} bus. Cowpeas 2 bus. 

Beans i J to 2 bus. Millet i to i J bus. 

Buckwheat i bu. Oats 2 ^ to 3 bus. 

Canada Peas i to 2 bus. Peas 2 to 3 bus. 

Clover, crimson 8 to 1 6 lbs. Rye i j to 2 J bus. 

Clover, red 6 to 12 lbs. Turnip 3 to 4 lbs. 

Corn 2^ to 3 bus. Vetch i bus. 

Common sense will direct how these crops be put in. Sow 
the coarser seed as you would wheat or oats, the finer as 
you do clover or timothy. Use a machine or drill, if possible, 
as that way gets the seed on more evenly. One thing, however, 
cover-crop seed should always be worked in with harrow if sown 
broadcast. Peas are sometimes sown in rows, especially where 
the "grain" is wanted, but this takes more work. 

The following statements of the amount of plant food needed 
by fruit trees are based on data given by Professor Bailey. 
These figures give a clear idea of the quantity of food used by 

28 



HOW TO SUPPLY PLANT FOODS 

a tree. The average is taken from the trees on one acre, planted 
thirty-five feet apart, and over a period of twenty years be- 
tween the thirteenth and thirty-third years of their age. 

An average crop of apples from one tree removes, in round 
numbers, eleven pounds of nitrogen, one pound of phosphoric 
acid, and sixteen pounds of potash. The leaves with this crop 
will contain ten pounds of nitrogen, three pounds of phosphoric 
acid and ten pounds of potash. No figures are given for the 
amount used in making new wood. The total for fruit and 
leaves is twenty-one pounds of nitrogen, four pounds of phos- 
phoric acid and twenty-six pounds of potash. 

For an acre of trees, the amounts would be something like 
1,887 pounds of nitrogen, 310 pounds of phosphoric acid and 
1,895 pounds of potash. The total value of these plant foods 
taken from an acre in twenty years is about $379. To restore 
the potash alone would require about twenty-one tons of wood 
ashes containing five per cent of potash. To restore the nitro- 
gen would require more than sixteen tons of a fertilizer con- 
taining five per cent of nitrogen, or more than five tons of 
nitrate of soda containing fifteen per cent of nitrogen. 

Another calculation by the same investigator shows the 
amount of plant-food which you may expect the fruit and 
the leaves to carry away in ten crops. The data follows: 

Apples Leaves Total Value 

Nitrogen 498 lbs. 456 lbs. 854 lbs. $143 30 

Phosphoric Acid 38 lbs. 126 lbs. 164 lbs. 11 50 

Potash 728 lbs. 441 lbs. 1,169 lbs. 52 63 

Total value $207 43 

"One of the best sources of potash for orchards is wood 
ashes," Prof. Bailey continues, "but this material is so often 
weakened by leaching that it cannot be confidently recom- 
mended. A good sample of unleached hardwood ashes should 
contain from five to nine per cent potash, but some of the 
commercial article does not analyze above two or three per 
cent. Potash in this form has a trade value of four-and-a- 
half cents per pound. To this value of potash in wood ashes 
should also be added that of two per cent or less of phosphoric 
acid, now worth six cents a pound, — but only if your land needs 
phosphoric acid. If it does not need that element, you cannot 
afford to buy it. Forty to fifty bushels to the acre is considered 
to be a good dressing of wood ashes, if it has been kept dry. 

"Muriate of potash is perhaps the best and most reliable 
form in which to secure potash at the present time for fruits. 
Commercial samples generally contain from 80 to 85 per cent 
of muriate of potash, or about 50 per cent of actual potash. 
Kainit is an impure muriate of potash, containing about 12 
to 15 per cent potash. 

"Sulfate of potash is also thought to be a good form in which 
to buy potash. The commercial article analyzes 50 per cent or 
less of actual potash. Slyvinit is a lower grade of potassium 
fertilizer. Its value, like that of other materials mentioned, 
should be reckoned upon the amount of potash present. 

29 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

"Phosphoric acid may be obtained in the form of a high- 
grade plain superphosphate (like dissolved South Carolina 
rock) in bone compounds, and in Thomas slag. The plain 
superphosphate contains about 15 to 18 per cent of phosphoric 
acid. Two hundred to five hundred pounds per acre is a liberal 
and very useful dressing for bearing orchards. The bone fer- 
tilizers are always valuable. Those which are untreated give 
up their phosphoric acid slowly, unless they are very finely 
ground. Dissolved bone gives more immediate results." 

Thomas phosphate or basic slag is especially valuable, be- 
cause, in addition to its 15 per cent or more phosphoric acid 
content, it contains about 40 per cent of lime. Some report 
that it parts with its fertility very slowly, but this depends 
upon how finely it is pulverized, and on the kind of soil to which 
it is applied. If there is much acid in the soil, or slight saltiness, 
this basic slag phosphoric acid will dissolve quickly and com- 
pletely. It is especially good on marshy, loamy lands. It is 
sold at a price which, considering the large amount of plant- 
food elements it carries, gives cheap phosphoric acid. 

Again from Professor Bailey: "Muriate of potash costs $40 
and upward per ton, sulfate about $48, dissolved bone-black 
about $25, ground bone about $30, kainit about $13, and 
nitrate of soda 2j^ cents per pound. These prices vary, of 
course, with the composition or mechanical condition of the 
materials. 

"The average composition of unleached ashes in the market 
is about as follows: Potash, 5.25 per cent; phosphoric acid, 
1.70 per cent; lime, 34 per cent; magnesia, 3.40 per cent. The 
average composition of kainit is 13.54 per cent potash, 1.15 
per cent lime. The composition of sylvinit (which is known 
as sulfate of potash in some quarters) is about 16 per cent 
of potash, in the form of both muriate and sulfate, mostly the 
former." 

The best chemical source from which to get nitrogen is 
nitrate of soda, which contains 9 to 15 per cent available nitro- 
gen, or 180 to 300 pounds of available nitrogen in a ton. If 
legumes are used as they ought to be, little nitrogen need be 
supplied from any other source, and the nitrogen secured from 
plants will cost about one-fifth of what it will otherwise. 

When starting to fertilize an orchard, it is often well to use 
a combination of potash and acid phosphate, with a cover 
crop, and watch the trees carefully during the growing season. 
If they show a light color, a small amount of nitrate of soda 
can be used. 

Suppose your soil has been fed a balanced ration, and now 
is in good producing condition. If you want to feed trees in 
such a soil, a fertilizer containing one and a half to two per 
cent of nitrogen, two or three per cent of available phosphoric 
acid and 10 to 12 per cent of potash, will give excellent results 
when applied in quantities ranging from 400 to 600 pounds to 
the acre. This means a complete, ready-mixed fertilizer. The 
different elements can be purchased and applied separately 
if that would be cheaper. 

30 



HOW TO SUPPLY PLANT FOODS 

As a guide to the application of the proper materials sepa- 
rately, we would say that the following proportions are about 
right for a balanced tree diet: loo pounds of nitrate of soda; 
loo pounds of South Carolina rock; 200 pounds of ground 
bone; 200 pounds of muriate of potash. The amount to be 
used depends upon how much the trees need; for instance, 
large old apple trees would require more than young apple 
trees; peaches would require more than strawberries; run- 
down orchards would need more than those well fed. 

Apples in full bearing, and on loose soil, may receive as high 
as 1,000 pounds of muriate of potash to the acre. A normal ap- 
plication, however, would be from 150 to 300 pounds. In the 
best orchards, growers believe that large applications of all 
the elements, of course in the right proportions, will pay more 
proportionately than the smaller ones. Generally there is a 
limit to both the smallest and the largest quantities that 
are profitable to apply, but don't use fertilizer blindly. You 
will waste it if you do. Give the trees the elements they lack. 
See that they have as much of each kind as they need. More 
will do no good; less will reduce growth and production. Good 
treatment all along the line is what brings good results. 

To get the chemical fertilizer on the ground evenly is vitally 
important. A drill is the thing to use if you do not want to 
do it by hand. For the first few years at least it usually is best 
to apply to each tree, by hand, the exact quantity which you 
decide is needed. This should be scattered over a space twice 
as wide as the branches cover. The old idea that roots go only 
as far as limbs has been proven wrong time and again. Roots 
will cover three times that diameter. If limbs are eight feet 
long, you can depend on finding roots twenty or more feet 
in every direction. 

Barnyard manure seldom is good for bearing trees. It con- 
tains too much nitrogen and causes sappy, out-of-season growth; 
it likewise has too many weed seeds for comfort. It does good 
work, however, around young trees, where it can be used as a 
mulch. These need nitrogen with which to build a frame of 
wood quickly. If it is used, apply it early in the spring, as soon 
as the winter surplus of water has run off, and then sow a 
cover crop early in July to take up excess nitrogen. 

It is impossible to lay down rules for the best handling 
of all orchards. Each piece of land must be studied sepa- 
rately. After a bit one will know what is needed, and can base 
his work on experience and observation. Keep your eye on 
the individual trees. The first year give them what you think 
they ought to have. If they respond, you have hit upon the 
right thing. Bear in mind, though, that three-fourths of the 
results of feeding trees appear in the second and third years 
after the food materials are supplied. 

Experiment with different combinations and amounts of 
fertilizer. You can in this way learn what is best. Each tree 
is an individual. Feed it according to its needs. After a num- 
ber of years of intelligent treatment, all trees in an orchard 
can be brought into uniform condition, so the whole orchard 

31 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

may be treated in the same way, simplifying the work. Gen- 
erally it is best to apply each food separately. Mixing is not 
needed; unless you can buy complete fertilizer that is made 
exactly as you want, mixing will not pay. 

When the sod-mulch system is in use, careful watching of 
trees and fruit to see what food is needed is doubly necessary. 
Potash generally has to be supplied most liberally in chemical 
(or commercial) form. The source of food on which the main 
dependence is placed, with this system, is the dead grass that 
is mowed and left on the land. How much of each food this 
contains it is impossible to tell except from the behavior 
of trees. What this grass does not supply must be given in 
another form. 

Whatever plan is followed regularly, it sometimes pays to 
change for a year or two. A cultivated crop such as potatoes 
or tomatoes is good, and besides, will pay well. Then a sod- 
mulched orchard may need a stimulant. Plow it up and cul- 
tivate for a season. Turn down a good heavy crop of a legume. 
This, together with the regular sod turned under, will change 
the soil conditions and generally will arouse the trees. 

Double crops are those grown between trees for a harvest. 
They may or may not add fertility to the soil — usually they 
consume great quantities of plant food which must be replaced 
from outside sources. Yet they pay well when handled right. 
Tomatoes, strawberries, potatoes, asparagus, beans and melons 
are the ones usually the best to grow. 

From the fertilizing point of view, which is half of all that 
is to be considered in the use of double crops and orchard 
filler, the thing hinges on just this: Don't try to take more 
out of your soil than you put in, and put back into the soil as 
much as or more than you take out. Outside of these limits, 
the more crops the better. In growing crops between trees, 
watch the trees. Remember you are growing the trees, not 
the secondary crop. Keep the trees growing fast, and healthy 
in every way. Supply food and moisture for everything that 
grows on the land. 

Double crops undoubtedly complicate the situation a great 
deal, as the orchardist must study the needs of his other crops 
in the same way as he studies the needs of his trees. Bear in 
mind that the profit is the amount between the value of the 
crop and the cost of the extra labor and of the plant-food you 
have to supply. Do not rob the trees. Burn that on a large 
sign, stick the sign in your orchard where you can see it all 
the time; then go ahead and raise inter-crops until the trees 
begin to bear nicely. 

SUMMARY 

Crops that pay big profits are unnaturally heavy crops, and 
to get them we must feed the trees. 

Soil itself never is food for trees — it merely carries plant 
food — and it must be finely and deeply pulverized, loosened, 
and filled with decaying vegetable matter before roots can 
absorb the plant food present. 



CULTIVATIO N AND MULCHING 

"Decay" is mostly the action of bacteria. 

Lime is not a plant food to any extent, but is badly needed 
by trees, to help them use plant food and to help put the soil 
in good physical shape. 

Make your soil fine and loose and loamy before you add 
fertilizer and you will not need to add so much. 

No two pieces of land are alike in plant-food needs. Learn 
to know what elements are lacking, and supply them in right 
proportions. Do not waste fertilizer by bhnd applications. 

Potash, nitrogen and phosphoric acid are the plant foods 
that have to be supplied. Nitrogen usually is best gotten 
through leguminous cover crops. Potash and phosphorus 
have to be supplied in chemical form. 

Nitrogen is the growing material, making wood, and size 
in fruit; potash goes into fruit largely, making flavor and 
color; phosphoric acid goes into wood and seeds, but only a 
fifth as much of it is used as of potash. 

Cover crops disintegrate and pulverize soil, add to it organic 
matter, prevent plant food from leaching and (the legumes) 
add nitrogen. The kind to use depends on your locality and 
your soil. 

Get plant foods on the ground evenly, over a space at least 
twice as wide as the branches cover, and apply it at the right 
season. 

Double crops pay, but you must supply plant food and 
moisture for everything that grows on the land. Do not rob the 
trees. 



Cultivation, Mulching and Other 
Orchard Treatment 

WHY should we use time and money in "fooling with the 
dirt" around trees? Before we came to this world there 
was fruit which grew without a bit of care. Why not 
adopt those methods now? 

The answer is simple: We do not cultivate to kill weeds, 
nor mulch to keep frost out. We do this work to increase the 
number of bushels or boxes or baskets or carloads of fruit; 
to better its size, texture, keeping qualities, its color and its 
taste, and to make the trees more vigorous. We are not satis- 
fied with either the kind of apples our grandfathers grew, or 
the quantity they produced. 

To obtain these results, it is necessary to save moisture, to 
promote drainage, to change insoluble plant-food elements 
into available plant food, to improve the texture of the earth 
(make it fine, and thus give roots a better chance to feed, mix 
it with dead vegetable matter, and so subdue it more and more), 
to increase the depth of useful soil, to make the temperature 
of the soil average higher and have less range, to prevent 

33 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

winter damage to trees, to keep plant-food from leaching away, 
to prevent gullying and surface washing, to produce con- 
ditions under which the soil will dry oft and either warm up 
sooner, or stay cold longer, as desired, in the spring, to supply 
plant-food, to help friendly bacteria grow and increase, and to 
destroy unfriendly bacteria, insects, fungi, weeds and animals. 

Anything that will help accomplish these things is good, 
but the best methods are those which do it with the least 
trouble and expense in proportion to each dollar's worth of 
fruit grown. No one procedure is best all the time. Each 
different process will secure partly some of the objects; usually 
it will be found that the program can be varied to advantage. 
What to do depends upon the trees, weather, soil, location, 
pocket-book, facilities, the time at command, and the purpose 
for which the fruit is wanted. 

All methods are related but do not overlap. With a certain 
purpose in view, you often can start with one method, and carry 
on or finish the work better and at less expense by a different 
process. The most successful fruit-growers do not have any 
one set system for their work. They recognize that all orchard 
processes have their uses, and that there is little choice of what 
to do in any situation, when things are understood and the 
best way is wanted. 

Mulching with grass grown in the orchard, mulching with 
straw and other materials brought into the orchard, growing 
and turning down cover crops, cultivating with plows, har- 
rows, dynamite and underdrains, are the means we have of 
giving culture to orchard land. 

Before trees are planted, the ground should be subdued 
thoroughly. "Subdued" is exactly the word to use. The treat- 
ment should be whatever is needed to accomplish that result. 
Usually it is best to first grow one or two cultivated crops on 
the land. This will show the wet spots, the hard ones, the 
places where subsoil comes close to the surface, and acquaint 
you v/ith every corner. You then can drain or do anything 
else needed without interfering with the trees and without 
having the trees interfere with the work. 

In the discussion of drainage, moisture, and feeding trees, 
•we explain the essence of orchard culture. As we have said, 
it is necessary to break up the subsoil, whether there is hard- 
pan or not. Subsoil plowing will do this in preparing the land 
at first while the trees are young. Underdrainage will help 
constantly to loosen the soil, and to keep it loose. The dyna- 
mite method usually is the cheapest at any time, and it is 
the only way by which the work can be done thoroughly after 
the trees have been in three or four years. 

How much dynamite to use, what kind, how deep and 
how far apart the holes should be, are details which are decided 
by simple experiments in the kind of soil to be loosened. Dy- 
namite manufacturers will supply all the information needed. 
They have issued several practical handbooks for distribution. 
Test out your soil by trying three or four pairs of holes 30, 
36 and 42 inches deep, charged with third, half and whole 

34 




w^m. 







v;^^^/#i y^' 



» 




Left: Good planting plan for peach orchard. Right: Properly headed peach tree. 




West Virginia Orchard with excellent air-drainage. This orchard worth $i, 


200 an acre. 








f ^'n. \ 


1 


h^ 


*' .. •^^&-,' T 


^TH^; 


f 


1 



Apple trees plantt-i 



feet. At eleven years old they are too close 




Fill chicken yards with plum and cherry trees. Trees will thrive. 

35 




Eifilitt eu hundred apples were thinned trom this trte in June incrt-asin;^ yield. 




Left: Dwarf pear tree trained to wall. Right: Dwarf apple trees trained in flat form. 




Old pear trees that have yielded S25 worth of fruit a season for years. 
36 



CULTIVATION AND MULCHING 

sticks. Shoot and examine carefully. The ground should not 
blow out, but should be loosened six or eight feet on each side 
of the charge. 

Dynamite is the thing with which to dig holes for new 
trees, to break up the whole soil three or four feet deep every 
few years, and to help renovate old orchards, because it will 
do these things more cheaply and better than they can be done 
by any other means. If you have fruit trees which seem to 
be standing still and which do not bear, no matter how big 
they are, properly explode a charge in the soil around or between 
them, and the trees will likely get to work. In a bearing orchard, 
a proper charge midway between trees is always safe and is 
generally very effective. 

In soil work with dynamite, the proper charge will heave 
the ground over a space from six to twelve feet in diameter, 
and as a by-product kill all insects and grubs. Under certain 
instances tree holes should have the dirt blown out, but it 
is generally best to merely loosen it up. A big shovel will 
sink down to where the tree should go at one motion if the 
ground has been heaved. Ditching in heavy, wet land can be 
done sometimes to advantage with dynamite. In this work 
heavier charges are placed close enough together to blow out 
the dirt. 

After you have torn up the soil, harrow and roll it repeatedly. 
Make the upper six or eight inches as fine as garden soil. This 
will take time and work, but will save both in the next five 
years. If orchard land is cared for properly in its early stages, 
no heavy plowing will be needed later. There should be plenty 
of vegetable matter in the soil when the trees are planted. 
It is not necessary to turn furrows in plowing orchard land. 
Cutaway or disc harrows are better than landside plows. 
Mix the soil — that's the thing. Stir it up. After you have the 
work started, any kind of harrow, cultivator or drag will do 
good work. 

After plowing, be sure to get the air-spaces between furrows 
entirely filled. Air is needed in the soil, but never in larger 
quantity than a "chunk" the size of a pin-head at one place. 
Each cubic inch of soil should have several hundreds of these. 
Use rollers, clod-crushers, or soil-packers after plowing, until 
you are certain there are no big air-spaces a few inches under 
the surface. 

How cultivation feeds trees and saves moisture has been 
explained already, but here are more details. Young orchards 
of any kind always should be cultivated clean, from spring 
until in July. Plow or tear up the soil as soon as ground is 
dry enough to work, harrow after every rain, and every week 
or ten days until it is time to sow the cover crop, or to mulch 
for winter. 

Keep young trees hustling. They have to build a big frame 
on which to carry their crops, and they have only a few years 
to build it in. Make them grow all they can c\»ery year, just 
so they stop in time to ripen their wood before frost. Young 
trees can keep on growing with safety a month or six weeks 

37 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

longer than bearing trees. The cultivation keeps them sup- 
plied with available plant-food and with sufl&cient moisture. 
Start cultivation of apples before the buds even swell in spring. 
See that trees are hoed around. A half-penny's worth of work 
will do wonders for your young trees. This early cultivation 
is most important and we always think that it is worth more 
than twice the work done a month later. 

As for the depth to work, go deep while you can. The 
first or second working each spring should reach a foot below 
the surface in all the space not occupied by roots. Later har- 
rowings need go only three inches deep, and two inches will 
do. Where roots are, and close up under the trees, four inches 
in as deep as the ground should be. worked. But remember 
this working so often directly under the branches of a tree is 
of far less value, either in conserving moisture or in feeding 
that tree, than working the space from the ends of the branches 
out to the next tree, because three-fourths of the feeding roots 
are beyond the branch tips. 

Never cut off a valuable limb to get under it with team and 
tools. Better by all means depend on harrows lapping over 
there. Bearing orchards should be worked the first time in 
spring six or eight inches deep, if they have been used to that 
depth all their lives. If they have been in sod, tear up only 
four inches of soil, because many roots will be even higher than 
that. One of the values of cultivation lies in making the roots 
go deeper, keeping them away from the dry, hot and cold sur- 
face, and down where they can feed all the time. 

Some of the pictures here show bearing trees which have no 
space at all under the limbs. There are great advantanges in 
this system when it comes to spraying and picking. But cul- 
tivation under such trees is impossible, and the way to handle 
them is to cover the ground under the limbs six to eighteen 
inches deep with hay or straw every year. When trees are 
first planted, this mulching for three or four feet around each 
is the best thing that can be done. 

Care must be taken to move the mulch back about a foot 
from the tree before every winter to guard against damage 
by mice, and in no case should the mulch be closer than six 
inches to the trunk, summer or winter. The ground should 
be heaped up slightly about the trees, too. Mice will not cross 
this open space. This mulch will save the moisture under it; the 
trees can be fed just the same, and in many ways it is better 
to mulch under the limbs and cultivate up to the mulch than 
to try to work all the surface. In southern Ohio can be seen 
a practice of gathering weeds and trash of all sorts and hauling 
it into the orchard around the trees. Rome Beauty, York 
Imperial, and other similar apples respond wonderfully to this 
treatment. 

The sod-mulch system of orcharding is this same idea car- 
ried further. The whole surface of the ground is covered with 
a stiff, thrifty sod of blue grass, timothy, red top and clover, 
or with almost any permanent grass that will make hay. A 
legume helps in supplying nitrogen. Then this is kept mowed 

38 



CULTIVATION AND MULCHING 

down as often as it seems worth while, beginning in the spring 
as soon as the weather gets dry. Some orchardists who use 
this system mow as often as the machine will catch the grass, 
as with a lawn, and leave the grass where it falls. Others mow 
less frequently, allowing the grass to get a foot or so high each 
time. Sometimes two mowings a season are enough; again, 
four will be needed. Cut in this way, the grass will not use 
so much water, and will provide a continual shade that to a 
certain extent has the same effect as a mulch of dust. 

No matter how often mowing is done, half or two-thirds 
of the green hay ought to be raked up and spread under the 
trees and over a few feet beyond branch tips. The vital point 
in the success of sod-mulch orcharding is: Not a blade of grass 
is to be removed from tlie orchard. If there is too much to go 
under the trees, say more than enough to make a mulch eigh- 
teen inches deep, the surplus may be left over the center spaces, 
the layer getting thinner toward the middle. Some of the 
largest and highest-colored apples and pears and plums seen 
in the markets or shows come from sod-mulched orchards. 
Peaches and dwarf pears almost invariably fail in sod mulch. 
They must be cultivated. 

The sod-mulch system will produce wonderful resulfs on 
apples and pears in the hands of growers who v/ill do it right, 
where there is enough rainfall. Sod-mulched trees usually 
do not make as much growth as those which are cultivated. 
For this reason all young trees should be cultivated. Often 
bearing trees are big enough, anyhow, and on them extra 
growth simply means extra pruning and heading back to keep 
them low enough. 

A net return of $38 more from a cultivated apple orchard 
than from a sod-mulched orchard adjoining it was noted in 
a thorough test in New York, where the conditions were iden- 
tical; yet this proves nothing more than that in this case the 
sod was not a good thing. In this experiment, the apples from 
cultivated trees were not colored so well as those from trees 
in sod; but they averaged larger, had a better flavor, and kept 
better late in winter. 

Rocky soils sometimes are fine for fruit, but they cannot 
be worked at all except with dynamite. On such places get a 
good sod, mow it regularly at the right time, mulch the trees 
with the hay, add some potash, and your orchard will be a 
great success with little work. Steep places can be treated 
in the same way; but terracing, or tearing up and leaving alter- 
nate strips of sod every year, working ha,lf the ground each 
season, often will produce bigger crops and still prevent cash- 
ing. 

Do not pasture your orchard. Bearing trees will pay you 
more than $250 to the acre if you allow them to, but they will 
not if they are mistreated. Be satisfied with that return and 
do not try to get another crop. Remember that the droppings 
of animals will not return a tenth of what the animals lake 
from the soil. The same rule applies to the usually double 
crop between trees. The yield of wool, mutton, beef, pork, 

39 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

hay, grain, etc., from an acre of orchard could not possibly 
be worth more than a fraction of the value of a full fruit crop; 
yet to raise any of these in the orchard will reduce the value 
of the fruit crop to only one-fifth or even less of what it would 
have been without them. Never think of removing a non- 
cultivated crop from between rows of fruit trees. 

Apples, pears, cherries, and plums, in lighi sandy soil, espe- 
cially where rainfall in the growing season sometimes is short, 
always are best clean-cultivated. Peaches and dwarf pears, in 
any soil, always should be cultivated well. To facilitate this, 
larger growing trees may be headed high enough at the 
trunk so that limbs will clear the team, and the limbs of smaller 
trees will not project far enough to interfere. Keep harrows 
and plows away from trunks of trees. Turn plows out when 
near trees on all sides. Finish this space with a hand hoe if 
it needs to be cultivated. Use center-trace harness whenever 
possible; this is made by putting the doubletree across the 
collars in front, and hitching by one chain or rope from the 
center of the doubletree directly to the plow or harrow. 

Cover all the surface in harrowing, except that little space 
around tree trunks. Harrow in every direction if you can. In 
all cultivation try to keep the surface even and level. Allow 
no dead furrows or ridges. Even on hillsides, where there is 
a furrow next to the sod strip, harrow or drag this shut soon. 

In case severe economy is necessary, or where help is scarce, 
a combination of the clean cultivation and the mulch methods 
can be used. Plow a narrow strip alongside each row of trees. 
Cultivate this and cover the rest with sod, and mow. A man 
by the name of Hitchings, in New York, uses this method en- 
tirely, in preference to any other treatment he could give his 
orchard, and he is certainly very successful. 

Up to the time trees are six or seven years old, their roots 
will not occupy all the space, and cultivated double crops can 
be used. Even when filler trees are planted as close as fifteen 
or twenty feet, the ground between can be made to yield a 
profit while the trees are small; and at the same time, if proper 
fertilizers are supplied, the orchards will be benefited by cul- 
tivation given to these double crops. 

Some of the best business farmers of the country say it 
costs entirely too much to bring an orchard into bearing with- 
out between-tree crops. When a man wants to start an orchard 
and does not have the money, he often can do it by growing 
four or five crops of strav/berries, tomatoes, asparagus, or 
something similar between his trees. Do not plant potatoes, 
or any crop requiring digging after August i, as this will 
act the same as late cultivation and force fall growth of trees. 
The May and June cultivation given these crops is just the thing 
required by young trees. Markets are waiting for these pro- 
ducts. All that is required is to study how to pack them, and 
make proper arrangements for selling thein. We advise sowing 
a cover crop with any intercrop, at the last cultivation, and 
let it come on. Rye or rye and vetch are good, and will make 
a cover crop to carry through fall and winter. 

40 




Pear trees too thick. Cut three-fourths of head off alternate trees each year. 




How to head young peach trees. Cut branches back to stubs, and stem off to 12 inches. 











^^^■^HB^^k^fl 


ul 




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'^^^^^£^!^BP 






JP^^^^^-^;: 








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':iBr:c---"-C^':^v-v •.- 



Low, open-headed apple tree when young, and also when loaded with fruit. 

41 




Apple trees are splendid on lawn — left. Dwarf tree m commercial orchard — right. 




How NOT to prune. Wrong season, stubs left, low limbs cut off, — tree butchery. 




it are bearing from loo to 250 apples each — three times too many. 
42 



CULTIVATION AND MULCHING 

Cultivation, like every other good thing, is good in its place, 
and bad when out of its place. All fruit trees should — and 
will, if conditions are normal — cease growth about July i. Later 
growth will prevent fruit from ripening, and will send the tree 
into winter with sappy wood and buds. Now, when trees have 
not ripened as they should, buds and twigs are hurt by freez- 
ing to an extent seldom appreciated. We cannot always see 
this damage. Few realize that it ever is done. But a crop 
often is frozen one or two years ahead, and when we do not 
get fruit we say that something is wrong, yet fail to learn 
what that something is. 

Cultivation must stop not later than August i in young 
orchards, and three or four weeks earlier in bearing orchards. 
A cover crop that will use up moisture and nitrogen should be 
sown, to make sure that ripening begins. There are other 
reasons for cover crops; but, from the cultural standpoint, 
this is most important. Allowing the ground to bake might 
accomplish the ripening, too, but it would produce bad effects 
as well. To aid ripening, mulches sometimes may be pulled back 
from trees in August. This applies particularly to young trees. 

When to cultivate, when to mulch, and when to use sod, 
depends entirely upon the conditions. Each will produce its 
own effects. The grower must decide what methods are best — 
must decide what he wants to do with his trees, then use the 
means that produce that result. Consider every effect of what 
you are going to do. For instance, sod will ripen wood and 
fruit weeks earlier than cultivation, in the same way that a 
too-early cover crop will, by using up the moisture and nitro- 
gen. Again, cultivation will destroy mice and insects; and 
still again, with mulch, fire always must be guarded against, 
particularly near railroads, woods and houses. Fire almost 
surely would kill the trees. There are dozens of points to con- 
sider. Study all, and use the methods best suited to your condi- 
tions, but modify them or change them entirely if this will 
produce better results. 

SUMMARY 

We do not cultivate to kill weeds nor mulch to keep frost 
out. We do these things to save moisture; to promote drainage; 
to change insoluble plant-food elements into available plant 
food; to improve the texture of the earth; to mix dead vegetable 
matter in the soil; to increase the depth of useful soil; to make 
the temperature of the soil average higher and have less range; 
to prevent winter damage to trees; to keep plant food from 
leaching away; to produce conditions under which soil will 
warm up sooner or stay colder longer, as desired, in the spring; 
to supply plant food; to help friendly bacteria grow and increase; 
to destroy unfriendly bacteria, insects, fungi and animals. 

Mulching with straw and hay, growing and turning down 
cover crops and cultivating with plows, harrows, dynamite, 
and underdraining are the means we have of giving culture to 
orchard land. 

43 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

Before trees are planted, the soil should be ^'subdued" thor- 
oughly. 

Dynamite tree holes, also break up hard pan and subsoil 
with dynamite, whenever possible. 

Mix the soil — that's the thing. Stir it up. 

Get rid of all large air-spaces a few inches down. 

Begin cultivation of young trees as early in spring as possible. 
A penny's worth of work done in March or April is worth a 
nickel's worth in June. 

Cover ground for a few feet about young trees with a heavy 
mulch. Leave a six- to twelve-inch space about the trunks (and 
heap up soil slightly) as a guard against mice. 

Keep young trees hustling till time to bear, then make them 
yield without growing much excess wood. 

Always cease cultivation in time to allow trees to ripen 
wood thoroughly before frost. 

When done right, the sod-mulch system is good where there 
is plenty of rainfall. 

No farmer will think of raising an orchard without growing 
between-tree crops that will pay from the start. 

Study your trees and give them the treatment that they 
ought to have for best results. That is what orchard culture 
means, no matter what the methods used to effect the desired 
purposes. 



Jack Frost 



To give this old gentleman the credit due him, it must be 
admitted that his children — cool and cold weather — put 
quality into fruit. Northern sections and higher eleva- 
tions produce better fruit than southern sections and low 
regions; and those parts of the world where the nights are cool 
and days not too hot are famous for the quality of their fruit. 
Take advantage of this fact whenever it is possible. If there 
is a choice, put your trees on high land for this reason, although 
there are others. Certain varieties thrive down low, but within 
the latitude adapted to any one kind the higher it is grown 
the better it will taste and keep. Take the York Imperial 
Apple, for instance. Grown below an altitude of three hundred 
feet in Pennsylvania, it is large, bright red, handsome, pithy, 
tasteless, and dry; grown at eight hundred feet, it is small, 
red-and-yellow striped, crisp, juicy, rich and "just fine." The 
same applies to variations North and South. 

In this connection, we should pause and consider elevation. 
Of course, the higher we get, the less total amount of heat there 
is in a season. High lands usually have cooler nights than low 
lands, and the warm part of the day generally is shorter. The 
elevation at which the total of heat in a season falls below the 
requirements for growing and ripening a fruit cannot be given 
in definite figures that apply to all sections, because, as we go 
south, that line goes higher. 

44 



FROST DAMAGE TO ORCHARDS 

About every mile further south makes as much difference 
in the season temperature as about eight feet of elevation. That 
is, a point a mile south of you will have to be eight feet higher 
than your position to have exactly the same conditions; a 
point a hundred miles south will have to be eight hundred feet 
higher. The rule is that every degree of latitude equals five 
hundred feet of elevation. 

Frost causes an immense amount of damage when not 
guarded against, however, by freezing blossoms, by freezing 
fruit before it is fully colored in the fall, by freezing buds, and 
by stunting and killing trees. A great deal of this damage is 
preventable by taking advantage of certain natural agencies, 
or by artificial means. It is not necessary to lose every second 
or third crop from frost. Even tender fruits, like peaches, can 
be made to yield every year by applying modern knowledge 
of preventing frost damage. The degree of cold which hurts 
fruit at various stages of growth has been learned pretty defi- 
nitely. It is not always 32 degrees, the water-freezing point. 

Of course, some kinds of fruit trees, buds and blossoms are 
damaged more easily than others. Dormant peach buds will 
stand ten or fifteen degrees below zero, some varieties more, 
others less. When peach buds have swollen the least bit, zero 
usually will kill them; when showing pink they can stand 
fifteen degrees above zero; when newly opened twenty-six 
degrees is the limit. When petals are falling, twenty-eight 
degrees will damage them slightly, and when petals are off they 
cannot stand much below thirty degrees. After that, thirty- 
two is the danger point. 

Apple twigs, and buds, if ripened right, will stand almost 
any cold. Sixty below zero has been known to kill some vari- 
eties, but little fear need be felt for any apple tree — when 
it goes into winter in right shape. We have explained this sub- 
ject in the chapter on cultivation. Apple blossoms showing 
pink will stand twenty degrees above; full open, twenty-six 
degrees; with falling petals, twenty-eight or thirty degrees. 
Pears are about the same as apples. Cherries and plums are 
slightly more tender; they might need two degrees more warmth, 
— but sometimes their blossoms come through black frosts 
with no apparent harm. Grape buds seldom will stand tem- 
perature colder than thirty-one degrees. 

A point to remember is that blossoms may not show any 
frosting, yet still may be damaged enough to prevent their 
setting perfect fruit. Gnarly, crooked, small and bitter fruit 
is not always the result of insufficient pollination or damage 
by insects or fungi. It may have been caused by frosts in spring 
or winter. 

The chief means we can make use of to prevent any and 
all of this frost damage are these: Locate within a few miles of 
a considerable body of water; locate on a slope, a bench or a 
hill-top from which air can drain away into lower land; avoid 
table-lands, plains, and, above all, pockets or valley floors; 
choose land facing the north or east rather than that facing 
south or west; cultivate so that trees will be late in starting to 

45 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

grow and bloom in the spring, and eariy to ripen wood and 
fruit in the fall; plan or make use of windbreaks of other kinds 
of trees, and use smoke and moisture for protection when 
frost comes at critical times. 

The problem of location already is solved for the great 
majority of growers and would-be growers. If you own a farm, 
that is the place on which to grow your fruit. The fact that 
you have it and know the soil gives you a greater advantage 
than you can secure by changing, unless you now are in a poor 
location for fruit, and can get a good price for your land. If 
this is the case, move into a section that is known to be good 
for fruit and as near the big markets as you can get. If you 
cannot change, you can make yourself practically safe from 
frost by wise planning and a little work. 

Water heats up ar d grows cold more slowly than earth. 
When the sun beats down warmly during winter and early 
spring days, water stays cold, while land gets warm. Later, 
water gets warm too, but, unlike the land, it stays warm, and 
does not cool off every frosty night. And air always is of about 
the same temperature as the substance it rests on. 

Now, both freezing of blossoms and "sun scald" (which is 
only freezing of sappy growth) would be unknown if there 
were no higher temperature to start growth, followed by low 
temperature that freezes it. To connect protection from frost 
with bodies of water, therefore, we have only to remember 
that warm air rises over cold air whenever it has a chance. 
During warm days in winter and spring, cold air from over 
water flows up into the vacant space left over land by warm 
air rising. This prevents trees from starting growth as soon 
as they would otherwise. 

Then later, when spring has come in earnest and the leaves 
and blossoms are out, water and land both get warm in the 
daytime but along comes a frost at night and cools off both 
the land and its air. This cold air flows down to the water, to 
take the place of the warmer air which rises from the water 
and flows back over the land — and over the tender blossoms. 

That, however, is not quite the whole science of water- 
protection from frost. The worst frosts come when the air is 
dry. If there is much fog, or vapor, or moisture, in the air, 
freezing will be slight cr entirely absent. An example of this 
is seen in the fact that zero on the Atlantic coast, where the 
atmosphere is moist, actually is felt more — seems colder, and 
is colder — than twenty degrees below in Manitoba or Colorado, 
where the air is much drier. 

Any water air will be damper than land air, so frost will not 
freeze so hard nor so quickly near bodies of water as the same 
degree of cold will freeze farther inland. If moisture is pres- 
ent in the air, from a shower, from ponds, ditches, spraying, 
or watering, it will act to prevent freezing. In irrigated sec- 
tions, a large amount of protection from frost can be had by 
turning on the water, and so filling the air with moisture. 
Where there are only a few plants or trees, or a garden, a 
thorough sprinkling or wetting is the best possible protection 

46 




Left: Spreading peach trees require a little higher head than others. Right: A zinc tag 
on tree, on which is complete record of that tree s history. 




Good pruning tools. Note wide open band shears, and pole pruner — both double action. 

47 




Entirely too thick 31 peaches here, and 15 are enough Should be 4 inches apart. 




Evergreen windbreak at a sod-mulched orchard, proper distance between break and trees 




Thinning pears and apples, also nipping tips of pear tree. June. 
48 



FROST DAMAGE TO ORCHARDS 

against frost, and this often is a most practicable method. 
One quart of water evaporated into the air, in a space eighty 
feet square will protect against frost as much as raising the 
temperature ten degrees. 

A slope which faces the water usually is better than one 
exposed the other way. The prevailing strong winds, however, 
have something to do with this, as well as sun and soil. South 
and west slopes are not so good as others, except for quinces 
and grapes, so far as the frost problem is concerned. A body 
of water will influence the temperature to a useful extent up 
to a distance of from five to fifteen miles. No difiiculty will 
be had in getting local information on this point, and one 
season's acquaintance with conditions will tell the story pretty 
well. 

As the entire country from Ontario south is adapted to some 
or all of the fruits, there are ten times as many inland acres 
as there are of those under the protection of bodies of water. 
Over all this area other things must be relied on to control 
frost trouble. The first of these is air drainage — next to right 
varieties, moisture, fertility and pruning, the most important 
requisite for success with fruit. 

The greatest danger to blossoms from frost comes during 
still nights. Frosts seldom come when a wind blows, because, 
when it is in motion, all the air is mixed together and its tem- 
perature is uniform throughout. After there has been enough 
spring warmth to produce bloom, nearly always enough will 
be stored up in that neighborhood to keep the temperature 
of all the atmosphere above the danger point if it is distributed 
properly by air movement or wind. Air-drainage is air-move- 
ment by gravity when the wind is not blowing. 

Air-drainage, and freezing at blossom-time, depend on 
comparative height, not on distance above sea-level. It does not 
take much slope or drop to do the work, although several hun- 
dred feet will do no harm. Often a rise of ten feet will mark 
the line between frost and safety, and places with a difference 
of ten feet in elevation sometimes will show a difference of 
ten degrees in temperature. 

Warm air rises, just as steam does. Cold air sinks, just as 
water runs down hill. Every little obstruction, like a few feet 
of roll in the surface, a hedge or windbreak, even the dirt 
thrown out of a ditch, will cause a deflection in the downward 
flow of cold air, and may protect or doom the plants in an area 
alongside of it. The shoulder of a hill, a hollow or a valley 
will direct air-currents. 

When it strikes an obstruction in its flow, air bounds quite 
a distance away from the earth, and does not come down again 
for rods. The flow of air to the sides is deflected in the same 
manner. We can only hint here at the influences of various 
combinations of hills, bluffs, draws, woods, drops and land- 
angles. No rules can be given for this. By studying the situ- 
ation you nearly always can tell where the flows of cold air 
will be. When the sun goes down, the earth and air cool rapidly. 
If it is a still night, the natural or gravity movement of the 

49 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

air will send the frosty atmosphere down, down, down, to 
lower levels, by any open paths it can find. 

Of course the exposed top of a mountain is likely to be 
affected by any frost in the air on still nights, but here, if any- 
where, there is likely to be a breeze to drive the frost away. 
The sides of a hill, whether benched or sloping, usually wUl 
be free from frost when the bottom below is hoary. Low flats 
or pockets of land are frost traps, as they catch and hold the 
cold air that drains from the land above. If a valley is long, 
with an even fall and few obstructions, there may be a good 
flow of air along its floor. This will prevent frost. In such 
places the very finest lands for fruits are found, because of 
their advantages in soil, good roads, level land, etc. 

Air drainage of any piece of land always is much more 
important than its exposure. Conditions on a northern or 
eastern slope will delay blossoming-time a few days; but if 
there is no lower-lying land into which the frosty air of spring 
nights can drain, blossoms will freeze every year or two. For 
this reason, certain tracts of land otherwise valuable are nearly 
worthless for fruit; and to plant an orchard on them invites 
failure, or at least an immense amount of work in fighting 
frost every year. You would better protect your trees against 
the frost for all time when you plant them. 

Get definite information about frost, if possible. During 
blooming-time in the spring before you plant trees, put ther- 
mometers a few feet from the ground, on stakes, one down in 
the lowest pocket on your place, another a little higher up, 
and still others at every twenty or thirty feet rise all the way 
up the slope. By watching these thermometers carefully every 
hour or two during a couple of nights when frost threatens, 
you will get all the information needed, and know the strips 
of land to avoid because of frost. Where such a test cannot 
be made, carefully observe the lay of the land before planting 
any trees. 

The relation of windbreaks to frost damage is mixed. Many 
times they prevent freezing, but they sometimes are the direct 
cause of it. For this purpose we can class a strip of woods as 
a windbreak. The flow of air-currents must be studied to 
understand the situation. When cold air flows from higher 
land on a still night, and strikes a thick windbreak, it rises over 
the tree tops and flows on to the middle of the orchard before 
coming down among the fruit trees. This will cause a strip 
several rods wide in the lee of the break to become badly 
frozen, because here there will be a dead-air space. The break 
forms a pocket of still air which is exactly like the frost trap 
formed by the hills in the bottom down below. 

If the break had been thinner, really "breaking" the force 
of the wind, and not altogether stopping its motion, there 
would have been no frost alongside of it, while the decided 
benefit of deflecting the cold air over the top of the orchard 
trees would be as great as ever. See that a piece of woods 
next to your orchard does not subject some of your trees to 
frost injury. 

SO 



FROST DAMAGE TO ORCHARDS 

Orchard heating has been brought to a thoroughly efficient 
state during the last few years, in Colorado and the Pacific 
coast fruit-belts. It is a recognized feature of orchard culture 
there, and is included in plans of work to be done on the orchards 
just the same as are pruning and spraying. 

Certain situations here and there throughout the country 
are so exceptionally favorable for fruit in other ways that 
planting in them is advisable, even though the situation is 
known to be frosty; or an orchard may be already located 
where blossoms are often frozen; or once or twice in a lifetime 
an exceptionally heavy frost may in blossoming-time visit an 
orchard that is safe all other years. In such cases artificial 
heating will save a great deal more money than it costs. 

Sometime along in April or May there will be a few days 
of warm weather, with south winds and showers that will 
start buds and bloom. Then, in a few hours, the wind will 
shift to the north or west and blow the clouds away. A clear 
night and a bright morning will follow, but this is just when 
to look for the worst frosts. Have several thermometers here 
and there in the orchard and near your house, about six feet 
from the ground. Be sure your thermometers register cor- 
rectly — some don't. When danger threatens, watch the ther- 
mometers carefully, especially from midnight till sunrise. 
Start frost fighting while the thermometers read a couple of 
degrees above the danger point. 

The Irishman said jit wasn't the fall that hurt him, but 
hitting the ground. So, it is not the freezing so much as the 
quick thawing afterward which causes the damage to blos- 
soms. If we can get something to prevent this quick warming 
up, and make our frozen flowers thaw out gradually, we can 
reduce the final damage 75 per cent. Clouds will do this, and so 
will artificial clouds — smoke for instance — and smoke is just the 
thing wanted for other reasons. 

Every one has noticed that the weather never gets very 
cold when the sky is overcast with clouds. We might say safely 
that frost never comes when there are low, thick clouds. Ob- 
servation of this fact led orchardists long ago to adopt smudg- 
ing as a frost preventive. The smoke makes a blanket 
which shuts out colder air from above during the night, then 
shields frost-bitten blossoms from the sun's rays in the morn- 
ing, and allows time to warm up slowly. 

Some growers have ready piles of wet brush, straw and 
leaves about the edges and throughout the orchard where 
the fires will not harm the trees. Sometimes oil is poured on 
these materials, but they should be kept as full of water as they 
can be and yet burn. When the temperature goes down near 
the danger point these piles are lighted. The moisture in the 
fuel is valuable in three ways — by increasing the volume of 
smoke, which covers the orchard, by loading the atmosphere 
with water, thus lowering the danger point, and by making 
the fuel burn more slowly and last longer. 

Sometimes, when the frost danger is slight, a burning pile 
of wet straw on a sled or wagon hauled here and there through 

51 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

the orchard will save much fruit. Elevate the material on 
screen wire and build the fire on a layer of earth in the bed 
under it. Where the heating has to be done for several nights 
in succession a mixture of tar, straw and sawdust will be found 
good. The ingenuity of the man whose crop is threatened 
can save him more dollars in this situation than in almost 
any other which comes up. Things have to be done quickly, 
and for every hour of time there are four hours' work. 

Orchard heaters, made of sheet iron, in various forms, 
which burn coal, wood, or oil, always should be installed if 
heating has to be done each year. The study of heating by 
this method would make a book in itself. Get the catalogues 
of heater manufacturers, compare their products, then buy 
fifty or sixty or eighty heaters (one hundred or more if oil 
heaters) for every acre you have to protect. Get more heaters 
than you ever will need in one night. Put all the heaters in 
position long before the time they will be needed. Have fuel 
and everything else ready, then you can make your work effect- 
ual. Tanks, sheds, fuel, buckets, torches, etc., also are needed. 
It will cost from $500 to $800 to install and run for one year 
a heating equipment for ten acres. 

A final word on artificial heating is this: With half-hearted 
preparation you cannot save the crop, and you will be out 
both the value of the fruit lost and the cost of the attempt 
to save it. Remember that you cannot raise the temperature 
of the air much by supplying actual heat — because, however 
hot the fire is, the heat from it will rush up above the trees 
and will be replaced by colder air pushing in from the sides. 

Ninety-five per cent of the influence you can exert on the 
temperature will come from supplying moisture to the air, which 
lowers the danger point, and from covering your trees with 
dense smoke, thus preventing quick thawing. These two pro- 
cesses will accomplish the purpose if given a chance, but do 
not imagine that you are "warming all out-of-doors," as a great 
many people say. In some parts of the West a light spraying 
of water while fires are burning helps to protect trees. Spray- 
ing trees with whitewash in winter helps protect trees against 
sun scald, winter damage and spring frosts. 

The mulching of trees while snow still is on the ground, 
to delay blossoming, is advised sometimes. A mulch that is 
thick enough will keep the ground frozen as long as two weeks 
after grass gets green on sunny places, but the leafing-out and 
blossoming of the mulched trees will not be delayed more than 
three or four days. The reason is that the first growth in spring — 
the first leaves and blossoms — is not fed from the roots, but 
comes directly from food stored in the wood of the trees. 

You can prove this by pulling into a warm room in mid- 
winter a branch of a tree which stands close to the window. 
Stop up the hole around the limb. In a week or two buds will 
begin to swell on the part of the branch inside, and in a month 
blossoms will open, even though the snow may be four feet 
deep outside. Or break off a twig bearing fruit buds, in winter, 
and put it in water in a warm, light room. It will bloom. 

52 



FROST DAMAGE TO ORCHARDS 

In Ontario, Michigan, Kansas, and other places where win- 
ters are severe, growers have found it practicable to protect 
their more tender fruit trees by training the roots to extend 
only in two directions; then, every fall before the ground 
freezes up, they dig a trench on one of the sides which has no 
roots, pull the tree over, and cover top and all with straw and 
earth. Peach and other trees will stand this treatment and 
will yield well under it. Orcharding is hard business under 
such circumstances, but growers in cold locahties may find 
this method profitable when fruit brings high prices at local 
markets and where it is wanted at home. 

SUMMARY 

Cold and cool weather put quality into fruit, hence higher 
elevations and northern latitudes produce higher quality fruit 
than lower elevations and southerly latitudes. 

Each mile north or south equals eight feet of elevation; or 
each degree of latitude equals 500 feet of elevation. 

It is not necessary to lose any crops from spring frosts. 

Proper care in locating trees, in cultivating, etc., will help 
prevent frost damage. Nearby bodies modify temperature. 
Air drainage is the prime frost-damage preventive, and is 
more important than exposure or soil or elevation. Air-drainage 
is governed by the lay of the land — by comparative elevations 
— and by draws, shoulders of hills, slopes, hollows, valleys, etc. 

Test your orchard location with reliable thermometers. 

Windbreaks prevent frost damage when they "break" the 
force of wind and do not altogether stop its motion. A piece 
of woods will cause a dead air-space, in which blossoms will 
surely freeze. 

Artificial heating, when rightly done, is effective in prevent- 
ing frost damage. Begin the work before the temperature 
reaches the danger point. 

Get plenty of moisture into the air by wetting the fuel, or 
spraying trees with water. Moisture in the air lowers the danger 
point and prevents frost damage. 

Quick thawing is worse than bad freezing. Cover frozen 
blossoms with smoke and prevent the sun from striking them 
in the morning. 

Adding moisture and insuring slow thawing are the methods 
you have of preventing frost danger, — you cannot do much 
by directly adding heat to the air. 



S3 



Planting 



IN the spring of 191 1, two men were driving past a neighbor's 
farm in a northern state, and were talking about the neigh- 
bor's new apple orchard, which contained five hundred 
trees, one year old. "He will never make anything out of them," 
said one man, "because one of the surest signs of what the 
future of an orchard will be is how it was started, and this 
one has been started wrongly in several ways. 

"In the first place, his trees are propagated from inferior 
parents. Half of them he budded himself, because he thought 
he could grow them cheaper than to buy them, and he got 

the buds from the old Baldwin trees on the place. Those 

trees never did bear right. The other half were bought from 
a nurseryman that I know has little idea whether or not the 
buds used came from trees that bear regularly and well. Then 
he has set a solid block of the one kind. He has made other 
mistakes in planting, but these two have already condemned 
his efforts to failure." 

This incident of wrong practice so impressed itself on our 
minds that we give it here. In the first place, you want trees 
that are true to name, and that come from parents which bear 
big crops of flawless fruit. We all know that no two trees in an 
old orchard bear the same, even if they are of the same variety. 
Some bear better than others. A bud will make a new tree 
having the same characteristics as the tree from which the 
bud was cut; so, right at the start, avoid one great limiter of 
your success — the poor trees — and give yourself a chance to 
succeed. Get trees that have been propagated from trees which 
are bearing, and bearing as they should. If possible, make the 
nurseryman tell you where his buds came from, and see these 
parent trees if you can. 

It would seem almost foolish to tell an intelligent planter 
to be sure that his trees are true to name, yet recently we were 
in the packing-house of the president of a state horticultural 
society, who is himself a large grower. He had many bushels 
of very small, insipid peaches he was trying to get rid of. We 
asked him what they were, and he replied that they grew on 
trees he got as Crawford's Late, from a nursery nearby, taking 
their word that the trees were right, even while he knew they 
had not grown the trees themselves. 

There are a few reliable growers of fruit trees in this country, 
and there are hundreds of irresponsible dealers, and growers 
who produce trees as cheaply as possible. Some of the dealers 
will buy a few thousand trees at wholesale from the unknown 
and unreliable growers, whose only care is to deliver some- 
thing with a few roots and a top, and who care little what kind 
they supply, or what their trees will turn out to be, then "go 
into the nursery business" and say they "grow" first-class 
stock. The dealer cannot find out where his trees came from. 
Orders for different varieties often are filled from the same 
block of trees. These trees usually are offered cheaply, yet 

54 



PRINCIPLES OF GOOD PLANTING 

there are plenty of instances in which they have been sold 
for almost double a fair price. 

Planters can avoid all risk by buying trees from a nursery 
that, first, grows all its own trees, and second, gets its buds 
from good bearing trees, and points out to you those trees. This 
beats all hollow a guarantee to repay you for damage sustained 
by reason of wrong varieties. Visit the nursery yourself and select 
your trees. Get the best you can find. There is only a dollar or 
two difference between the cost of the best and of the poorest, 
and the ultimate difference to you will be many, many times 
this. 

"The best trees" usually are of medium size for their kind 
and of the proper age. They are not always straight and clean. 
Some kinds do not grow that way. Bear in mind the nature 
of the variety, compare the different trees you see of that same 
kind, then pick out those that look best to you. Vigor, clean- 
liness, health, good roots, and firm, hard, well-ripened wood 
are much more important than size. If you buy from a nursery 
that grows its own trees, and takes the trouble to keep track 
properly of its buds, you can depend on it to do the budding 
right and deliver to you trees which are as sound as they can 
be grown. 

It is generally best, especially north of Virginia, to order 
trees in late summer or early fall, and have them delivered 
to you either in time for heeling-in that fall, or have them dug 
and heeled-in at the nursery for you, then shipped as soon as 
zero weather is past, in time for planting the first day in late 
winter or early spring that the ground is in shape. Cover tops 
and all with dirt when you heel-in, use no straw. Fall planting 
is good if done at the right time and if trees are in good shape. 
In an average fall, there is only a week or so during which plant- 
ing ought to be done. Fall-planted trees make some root growth 
during fall and winter, but spring-planted trees, if put in early 
enough, will be safer, and will not be behind those planted 
the fall before, in growth. In the fall you get the pick of the 
season's tree crop, and planting is not delayed because you do 
not have trees at the right time. Try to get low prices, but 
still do not buy trees because they are cheap. Frequently 
the advice is given to buy trees of the nearest nursery. That 
is mighty poor advice. Buy trees from the nursery best equipped 
to produce good trees. Buy the best trees you can get. Don't 
worry about the distance away or about getting the trees to 
your place. Good packing will bring trees in perfect condi- 
tion anywhere. Freight charges across the continent are no 
more than two or three cents a tree and through a half-dozen 
states they are likely to be only one cent a tree. 

This book is a fruit-grower's guide book, and we have tried 
to keep it clear of any reference to our own business of growing 
trees except to give our experiences for your benefit. But 
here we want to tell you, as a fact valuable for any planter to 
know, that we can give you the pedigree of every tree we sell. 
We will show you the parent tree or trees, if you care to go to 
see them, bearing in the most successful orchards of the coun- 

55 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

try. We grow practically every tree we sell, and we have a 
system that almost entirely eliminates any possibility of mixing 
varieties. More than that, we handle immense numbers of trees 
every season, and the feeding, cultivation, digging, packing and 
shipping are done in a manner better than any firm operating 
on a smaller scale can do these things. We know this, for now 
we do many things that are to the planter's advantage which 
we could not do a few years ago, when we were smaller. 

Cross pollination is a subject too little understood. In the 
chapters on each fruit we say that the only safe way is to alter- 
nate different varieties to a certain extent. Put a row of a 
different kind every three, four or five rows. About one hun- 
dred and fifty feet is far enough to depend on pollen carrying. 
Insufficient pollination will result, first, in entire lack of fruit; 
and second, in weak setting of some fruits, making crooked, 
gnarly individual specimens the rule. 

Blossoms are of three kinds. One class is perfect; that is 
it contains within its own borders both the male and the female 
elements. This kind of blossom may or may not be able to 
fertilize itself; sometimes it can, but often it cannot, as in the 
case of the large majority of apple blossoms. A second class 
of blossoms is male; that is, it has only the stamens — the little 
upright hairs that you see in the middle of the flowers. A third 
class is female only, and has no stamens, but merely a fleshy 
growth at the bottom or center of the flower. With the ex- 
ception of the kinds which bear both male and female blos- 
soms on different twigs, and a very few which are able to fer- 
tilize themselves, all other kinds, of any class, require a variety 
of the opposite class near enough so that some of the pollen 
from the other kind of blossoms will reach their blossoms with 
the help of wind and bees. 

Certain varieties have blossoms, perfect to all appearance, 
yet are impotent in so far as their own blossoms are concerned. 
There are many affinities among the different varieties. For 
instance, Bartlett pear is fertilized best by Winter Nelis, Kieffer 
by LeConte, Stayman Winesap apple by Duchess or Mcin- 
tosh, and so on through the list. Whatever you are planting, 
see that you set trees of different varieties within reach of each 
other, and also that their times of blossoming come together; 
that is, set near each other two early bloomers, or two late 
bloomers, but not an early- and a late-blooming kind. Select 
the varieties before you go to buy. Determine what you want, 
with reference to all the conditions that will have to be met, 
then get those kinds. In this way you will have no trouble 
about substitution of varieties in filling your order. 

Select the location for your orchard with reference to ex- 
posure; to air-drainage and other frost-damage factors; to the 
character of the soil, and particularly the nature of the sub- 
soil. Roots have to go down three or four feet. If there is close 
underlying slate or hardpan, avoid that land unless you break 
up this hardpan thoroughly and permanently. The section 
of the country is of little real importance. Delaware orchardists 
are near markets, and their soil is worked easily. West Vir- 

S6 




Spraying-house of a large orchard Note elevated tanks for water and miTtures. 

-r ry/-/ / 

\ 




Top-worKed aees; lelt, tiuee years from graft; ngot, five years. Both bear. 




Badly spUt tree saved by bolting Good for a lifetime yet, aua worth *5o. 

57 




Left: Leaves affected by cedar rust. Right: Leaves and fruit affected by blotch. 




Left: Frog-eye fungus on apple leaves. Right: Characteristic titter rot 




Left: Scab on leaves and fruit. Right: Curl leaf fungus on peach leaves. 

58 



PRINCIPLES OF GOOD PLANTING 

ginia and Pennsylvania lands are high and grow the best qual- 
ity of fruit; New England is farther north and claims superior 
flavor and keeping qualities; Oregon is far west and claims 
superior color. Whether much or little is in these claims, what 
is lost in one place is balanced by a gain in another place. So, 
plant your trees where you can do it best. 

Avoid setting trees too close together. They feed over a 
wide area if they have the opportunity, and they are the better 
for it. Our plan is to set three peach trees to one standard ap- 
ple. Where peach trees are used as fillers, we get from fifty to 
two hundred trees on an acre, depending on many things. With 
apples you will get more cash returns from thirty trees on an 
acre, in the East, than from sixty on an acre. Some varieties, 
however, are naturally smaller growers than others, and can 
be planted closer; also the section has something to do with 
it. For instance, trees grow bigger in Pennsylvania or Delaware 
than in Michigan or the West. The system of pruning you are 
going to adopt, as well as the price of land, has something to 
do with the distance the trees should be apart. Leave plenty 
of room for spraying, cultivating, driving about with wagons, 
etc. Keep the trees far enough away from boundary fences, 
and never plant them closer than forty feet (one hundred 
feet is better) to thick woods or an evergreen windbreak. 
Privet needs only twenty feet, and in most sections is as good 
as any known plant for windbreaks. Fillers, of course, alter the 
distances given, as they merely occupy the ground before the 
premanent trees get big enough. The following gives the 
shortest distances at which trees should be set: 

Apple trees need fifty, forty, or thirty feet between one 
another, depending on various conditions named above (dwarfs 
ten to fifteen); pears twenty, twenty-five or thirty; quinces 
fifteen to eighteen; peaches thirteen, eighteen, twenty-one 
to twenty-five feet; plums fifteen, twenty to twenty-five feet; 
sour cherries the same as peaches, and sweet cherries the same 
as pears (in some sections forty to fifty feet) ; grapes should be 
put six by eight feet to eight by ten feet; strawberries from 
eighteen inches each way to one by four feet; raspberries from 
three by six to five by eight feet; and blackberries from four 
by seven to six by nine feet. 

Fillers always are to be recommended to careful growers. 
If you think you will not use your trees right while they are 
growing, or that you will lack the determination to cut out 
the nicely bearing fillers when they are about twelve years 
old, do not plant fillers, for these things must be done. But 
no business farmer will think of going to the expense of growing 
a first-class apple or pear orchard without planting early-bear- 
ing sorts of these same fruits, or of peaches or strawberries, 
between his permanent trees. To use fillers makes the orchard 
a paying investment considering it on a five- to eight-year 
basis; while without them you will have to take fifteen years, 
or even longer, as the time in which you are "starting" your 
future orchard, or before you get back the entire cost and be- 
gin to see a yearly surplus. 

59 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

The following table gives the number of trees that can be 
set on an acre by the square method, and by the triangular, 
(called quincunx, or hexagonal also) method: 

Square Triangular 

method method 

40 feet apart 27 31 

35 feet apart 35 40 

30 feet apart 50 55 

25 feet apart 70 80 

20 feet apart no 125 

18 feet apart 135 155 

IS feet apart 195 225 

1 2 feet apart 305 350 

10 feet apart 435 505 

8 feet apart 680 675 

6 feet apart 1,210 1,600 

S feet apart i,745 2,010 

4 feet apart 2,725 3,i4S 

3 feet apart 4,840 4,890 

2 feet apart 10,560 12,575 

I foot apart 43,560 50,300 

Trees sometimes can be planted to advantage farther apart 
one way than another. To do this, you have to work out the 
plan for your own orchards. This plan works best on steep 
hills. The rows should follow the lines of the hill to make 
driving easier. No rules can be laid down for hillside arrange- 
ment. Use some modification of the plans given here. 

The triangular method of arrangement is the best for those 
trees which should have more than eighteen feet between. 
We illustrate it here. The square system and the many vari- 
ations of each system are not shown, as they are very simple 
and are understood everywhere. In the triangular system 
each tree is at an equal distance from all of its nearest neigh- 
bors, and all of the ground is used as completely as it can be. 
In the square system, the diagonal distance across the squares 
is longer than the sides, so there is waste space in the middle 
of the square. To mark out the position for trees by the tri- 
angular plan, set stakes along one side of your orchard land, 
just where the trees are to go. Then, with two helpers, take a 
wire a little longer than the distance you want the trees apart, 
put a loop at each end and one in the middle, leaving the 
length then just exactly right, and direct each of your help- 
ers to take an end loop and hold it at a stake. You, with 
the middle loop, will step out into the field, and when you have 
stretched the wire, you will have the exact place for the tree. 
Drive a stake there, and continue in the same manner all the 
way across the field. Many variations of this can be practiced. 
Do not use a strap or a rope, for they will stretch. A single 
wire, to go to one stake, will do, if you cannot get more than 
one helper. In that case, mark a semicircle with a stick in your 
loop, about where you think the place is, then send your helper 
to the second stake and make another semicircle. Where the 
marks cross is the place for the tree. This plan will work per- 
fectly on hills and rough land. 

You also can fix the positions for the first few trees on an end 
and a side with a tape or any measure, and then, from these, 

60 



PRINCIPLES OF GOOD PLANTING 

get the distance between the rows, or lines, of trees, directly, 
and set stakes at the ends of these on all four sides; then plow 
furrows, or stretch a wire (about No. 14, with drops of solder 
and colored strings wrapped on the proper distance apart 
for the trees) completely across the field where the row will 
stand, and put the trees the distance apart decided on origin- 
ally. The square method of setting is simple, and, if it is wanted, 
any one quickly will think of an adaptation of some of these 
plans for getting the position of each tree. A way to avoid 
setting a stake exactly where the tree is to stand is to set a row 
of stakes entirely around the orchard land, and then set two 
rows entirely across the middle, in opposite directions, being 
careful to get these center stakes between tree rows. 

Anywhere you look, in this way, you will have two stakes 
to sight by. The stakes can be so arranged that trees can be 
set either on the square or triangular plan, by carefully think- 
ing out beforehand in which directions the rows will run, and the 
positions of the trees, then setting the stakes accordingly. If 
you adopt this plan, and keep the stakes away from the posi- 
tion for the trees, you will not need the following. But it takes 
a good eye to set trees straight in holes, and here is a surer 
plan: After you have a stake exactly where each tree is to go, 
get a board seven feet long, with a wooden pin about six inches 
long sticking down from each end, one pin tight, the other 
loose, and with a deep notch in the middle of the board. When 
you dig the tree holes, first lay this board down (always with 
the same side up and notch ahead) with the stake in the notch, 
push the pins into the ground, then pull out the stake, lift 
the end of the board which has the removable pin, and turn 
it around out of the way. When you are ready to plant the 
tree, bring the board back again, drop the end with the hole 
over its pin, which is still sticking where you left it, and set 
the tree with the trunk in the notch. 

Where there are more than a couple of dozen trees to plant, 
it is best to double-stake the whole orchard before holes are 
dug. This is the way to do when you use dynamite in digging 
the tree holes. Instead of having one pin solid in the board, 
merely have two holes through which to drive small stakes 
that are left at each hole. After the holes are blown out or 
dug, and when you go to plant, put the board over the stakes 
again, and get the exact position for the tree at the notch. 

Unpack trees as soon as you get them, unless they are 
frozen. (In that case let them thaw out slowly in a cool cellar.) 
Shake out packing material, dip the roots in mud, and either 
plant or heel-in at once. If you heel-in, cover tops and all 
with dirt. Young trees should be well cut back at the time of 
planting, as directed in the pruning chapter, in order to get a 
balance between the amount of roots and the amount of top. 
Half, or more, of the roots always are destroyed in digging trees, 
even with the most careful work that can be done, so we must 
cut back the top to correspond. All damaged roots should be 
cut off smoothly with the slant on the under side. The tops 
should be cut down to where you want the heads to start 

61 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

(usually twelve to twenty inches from the ground.) This can 
be done best a week or a month after the trees are set. The 
branches should be shortened at the same time. 

Dip the roots into thin mud, spread them in carefully pre- 
pared holes (dynamited if possible) that are wide enough and 
deep enough to hold the roots without cramping. Work good, 
fine dirt in among the roots thoroughly. Ram it in with a 
stick. Move the tree up and down repeatedly. Pack the dirt 
well. You cannot get it too solid about roots, except two inches 
on the surface, which should be loose. Use your whole weight, 
or better, pack with a heavy maul. Leave no air-spaces. 

Do not let the roots lie exposed to sun or wind. Never let 
them dry. Cover the roots with a wet blanket, pack them in 
a tight wagon-box and cover with dirt or wet straw, or load 
the trees into a barrel filled with water, and, as planted, pour 
a little of the water about each one. Trees should go just a 
little deeper than they were in the nursery. Watch the dark 
line of bark at the base, and put this an inch below the surface. 
It often is a good plan to use water in planting. The 
surface of the newly dug earth, for a couple of feet about the 
little trees, should be covered with a six-inch mulch of straw 
or leaves, to retain the moisture. Trees will need no fertilizing 
till the second summer, when a little nitrate of soda or horse 
manure will do good work. 

SUMMARY 

Get trees that you know are right — the importance of this 
cannot be over emphasized. 

To be sure of reliable trees you must buy them from a firm 
that is responsible — that knows how to propagate trees, works 
by a system that prevents the possibility of mistakes, and backs 
up their stock till it bears. 

Good trees are true to name, and are propagated from parents 
that bear heavy crops of flawless fruit. See the parent trees 
whenever possible. 

Always visit the nursery and select your trees yourself when 
it is possible. It pays. 

Buy the most vigorous, cleanest, healthiest, best ripened, 
biggest rooted trees you can find anywhere — the best will cost 
only a few dollars per hundred more than poor ones. 

Select and place your trees with regard to cross pollination. 
Lack of pollination is a frequent cause of small and poor crops. 

When you plant, consider air, drainage, soil, etc. Always 
arrange trees by a handy system, and put them far enough 
apart. 

Use fillers — and cut them out in time. 

Trees must be planted just at the right time. A dollar's 
worth of care in planting will save many dollars' worth of trees. 
Follow the suggestions given here. 

Don't forget to mulch newly set trees. 

We plant standard apple trees 20 by 20 feet, and cut out 
fillers when 12 to 20 years of age. 

62 




Caused by woolly aphis, by partially freezing buds, winter or spring, and by poor pollination 




San Jose attacks both bark and fruit, and infects Ben Davis very badly. 



^^^^^^^VSi '^B " ^^^^l^^^^^^^^^^^^^^l 


I^R 




"'^^^^'ijbBBB 


wL AH^Hr/^Bb 




miM^F^'f^.'j^iiy^ 


^n WW 


^^^^^^B^^^^^fmBm l^^^^^l 


ImH 


H Cluster Buds -Proper Stage for First Scab Spraying | 



During only two to four days are the buds in best condition for this spraying. 



63 




Put the material on with force, drive it into every nook. Get a machine that wiK do this. 




Blossoms — Stage to spray for codiin moth. Four days later half the worms would escape. 




A practicable spraying outfit for small orchards, and where trees are small. 

64 



Pruning 



FEW understand what pruning really is, hence it is necessary 
to explain from nature. To cause trees to reproduce them- 
selves is Nature's principal object; she bids each grow high 
and thick as rapidly as possible, and produce as many seeds as 
possible, without regard to the flesh in which they are contained. 
A tree will produce a thousand seeds for every one that possibly 
could find a place to grow. The stronger choke back the weaker 
and all damage themselves in the struggle for existence. 

In the orchard we have left nature's plan behind, and the 
trees no longer have to fight for space, light and food. In the 
sunny, cultivated spaces, where they are not kept back by one 
another, they grow too fast and too much, and naturally pro- 
duce too many seeds. This brings the necessity of pruning and 
thinning, or, rather, the necessity of training the trees to so 
shape themselves that they will ripen the largest number of 
heavy-fleshed fruits, with less regard to seeds. 

We prune, therefore, to modify the vigor of trees; to make 
them produce larger and better fruits; to let the sunlight in 
to every leaf and fruit; to change their habit from wood-mak- 
ing to fruit-making, or from fruit-making to wood-making, 
as required; to remove useless, harmful or injured parts; to 
give trees a longer life; to keep trees within manageable size 
to make easier the spraying, cultivation, harvesting, and to 
train them to a desired form. 

Trees are living things, and are affected by everything we do 
to them. Too often they are used as though they were dead 
posts. We cannot remove a single branch without modifying 
every other branch on that tree. A tree thus can be trained or 
molded to a remarkable extent, and he who prunes intelligently 
will surely get good results. 

But pruning has to be learned by experience. We can 
explain the principles, but to acquire skill in accomplishing 
the results you desire, you must do the work yourself and watch 
the effect from year to year. No two trees are alike. No two 
branches are alike. The rules laid down must be modified to 
fit each kind of tree and even each single tree. For instance, 
Kieffer Pears must be handled differently from Seckel; Spy 
apples differently from King. To work over a tree and give it 
the care that it needs, as an individual, is one of the most 
fascinating operations in orcharding. 

Think first of securing the best possible shape and size. For 
all practical purposes and for most trees a low head and an 
open head is what you want — low, because you can work over 
it better; open, to let the sunlight and air reach all the leaves 
and fruits. (Trees feed from both roots and leaves.) There 
are other considerations, such as having the head well bal- 
anced, good to look upon, and carrying the largest possible 
amount of fruit-bearing wood that the roots can feed; avoiding 
forks that will split apart under a load; keeping branches 
growing into the prevailing wind and away from the morning 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

sun (against tendencies to the opposites of these), and leaving 
space under the branches for horses and tools. 

Keep these words before you as you work about the trees — 
"a low head and an open head." They will suggest the removal 
of this and of that little limb, the pinching of tips here and 
there, the leaving of others. A well-trained tree that has reached 
bearing age in good form can be kept right with very little 
cutting afterward. Few trees need central leaders — only 
those of the plums, pears, apples, etc., which grow very up- 
right in the spring, and then spread away out as the fruit 
develops. Some horticulturists advise us not to remove big 
limbs when we can avoid it. We do not agree with that, for 
limbs should be removed when there is a reason for it, even if 
they are a foot thick. Of course the work must be done 
right, as explained later. Still, the time to remove limbs is 
when you can do it with your fingers — pinching buds — or with 
light pruning-shears or a pocket-knife. Direct the growth to 
where it is needed. 

Remember this: A limb never gets any higher from the 
ground that it was when it started. Decide when you plant 
and first prune where you want the head of your trees to start. 
Some trees have to be cut back to a mere stick, as is correct 
with peach; with other kinds, such as apple and quince trees 
old enough to be branched, you have to select, then and there, 
the limbs you want for the framework of the head, and nrp 
these back to buds growing in the direction you want the 
branches to continue. One big grower likes to have one main 
trunk from which the five or six frame-limbs grow out in a 
rising spiral; others prefer to have all the limbs start at nearly 
the same height; but all agree that no two limbs should be 
opposite each other, because this will form a fork that will 
split. 

Trees are just as free with their buds while young as they 
are with seeds when older. Hundreds of buds are produced 
for every branch or blossom that can grow. We do not even 
see all the buds; you can remove every one you can find, yet 
by the next season the tree will have brought to light more 
dormant buds than you removed. Because of this you can 
train twigs and branches to grow into almost any direction 
you wish. It is not a question of pruning as little as possible; 
it is a matter of selecting the one bud out of a hundred that is 
to live; and you want to select this bud, for if you do not, 
nature will for you, but probably not in the way that is best 
for producing fine fruit. Do not think you can keep all the 
growth a tree makes, or nearly all. Make up your mind that 
a good part of it must die, from one cause or another. It is 
the law of nature. You must direct the growth into a proper 
form. 

Certain tendencies of trees must be remembered when you 
cut off buds or branches. First, a young tree is likely to grow 
faster than an old one, therefore it requires more heading 
back than an older one. Any tree will try to grow first from 
its topmost or outermost buds. Always cut to a bud or branch, 

66 



PROPER TRAINING OF TREES 

and to one that grows in the direction desired. (Three-eighths 
or a quarter-inch above the bud is the proper distance to cut.) 
The tree will throw its sap into this bud or branch and develop 
it with all the strength formerly given to both it and the part 
removed. Direct the shaping of your tree by following this 
rule. In cutting leaders or shoots, remember that the natural 
habit will be to grow straight on. Thus, if you cut a tall-grow- 
ing shoot on a two-year tree, you probably will find another 
shoot extending straight on up the next season, with only a 
slight offset where you made the cut. 

By keeping the center open, you will avoid nearly all crossed 
limbs, but where these are found, one of them always should 
be cut out. When you find two limbs growing parallel, cut 
away one. You can have a "double-decked" tree, but you 
cannot succeed with a three- or four-decked one. When there 
are more than two branches between the earth and the sky 
at any one place, remove all but the best two. Never cut a 
good limb that is in the right place in order to get under it 
with a horse. The limb is worth more than ten times what the 
cultivation would be worth. Mulch under that limb. The 
tallest apple trees should not be more than twenty feet high. 
When they become higher than this, head them back once or 
twice a year, and keep them down to workable size. 

Just as stronger, bigger trees will overshadow and dwarf 
the leaner ones beside them, the lusty limbs or buds will stunt 
and starve out the smaller ones on the same trees. You must 
keep a balance between the various parts, or the biggest ones 
will get still bigger, and the smaller ones smaller yet. Water 
sprouts should be nipped when they start, unless the tree 
needs new limbs where they grow out. 

These principles will enable any one to go to any kind of a 
fruit tree, and, after a little study, train it into any desired 
shape as it grows. To make the tree bear fruit, and fruit of 
the finest kind, other elements and habits are to be considered. 
But, in all pruning, remember that constant watching is best. 
Go over your trees at least once a year, twice if possible, giving 
them the nips they need. In this way little heavy cutting will 
be required, and the total amount of work will be lessened 
greatly. Ten minutes to a tree twice a year will accomplish 
much more than two hours to a tree every two or three years. 

Study of the fruit buds will open the eyes of many growers, 
first as to their method of growth and life, then as to their 
location. Fruit buds are usually thicker and fatter than leaf 
buds, and have a shorter point. You can learn to tell them apart 
by studying the trees in the fall and spring. We do not have 
space here to explain the full process of their formation, but 
we can say that fruit buds and leaf buds are transformable 
to a certain extent. If the growth of a shoot is not checked, 
all of its buds will make branches. But nature asserts itself; 
certain buds are checked by stronger ones, even after they 
have developed into little branches, and these dwarfed buds 
or branches, since they cannot make new branches of their 
own, turn to the other work of a tree — seed-producing. 

67 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

The first few years of a tree's life should be given up almost 
entirely to building a frame on which to bear crops. Disap- 
pointed branchlets along the inside limbs may produce a few 
fruits, but until the tree is rather large it should devote its 
energies to growing. After the tree is large enough, however, 
fruit-bearing is the thing for it to do, and more growth should 
be discouraged. On the ideal tree there should be just enough 
new growth to replace annual wear and tear. Of course more 
will grow, and this will have to be cut back or the trees will 
become too large, meanwhile neglecting the work of fruit- 
producing. What you want to do is to disappoint the great 
majority of buds, and thus make them change their leaf and 
branch buds to fruit buds. 

This checking of the growth can be accomplished by tip- 
ping back each season's growth a certain amount, depending 
on the kind of tree. The very best time to do it is after the 
fruit has set tightly, as you are thinning. Trees stop their 
season's growth much earlier than is ordinarily supposed, 
and if you cut off half or more of the length of the shoots some 
time in June or July, you throw the energies of the tree into 
the forming of the fruit. As your tree is big enough, you do 
not need more wood, so the various processes work together. 
In the same way, all summer pruning makes for fruit-bearing 
and fruit-developing. If you were to prune large trees in the 
winter, the sap, when it came in the spring, immediately would 
go to replacing this wood, thus giving each remaining bud 
a better chance of becoming a branch, its first desire, and lessen- 
ing the number and vigor of those buds that devote themselves 
to producing fruit. (Wounds made in winter and subjected 
to freezing require twice as long to heal as summer wounds, 
and many never heal properly.) We recommend that pears 
and apples, especially, be tipped back in June. 

Fruit buds usually are thicker and more blunt than leaf 
buds. In winter you can distinguish them easily by their 
appearance. The aim should be to have as many fruit buds 
scattered all over the trees as possible. There should be no 
long stretches of bare limbs. To make fruit spurs, merely pinch 
off the end buds of little branches, instead of cutting the whole 
branches off close to the limbs from which they grow. If you 
do this, and afterward avoid breaking the spurs thus formed, 
you will have fruit all over the tree, and these spurs never will 
get much bigger than they need to be to support two or three 
fruits. 

This brings up a point that must be remembered. Apples, 
pears, cherries, plums, etc., bear their fruit only on wood that is 
two or more years old. Peaches bear only on one-year-old wood, 
while American grapes and quinces bear on wood of the same 
season's growth. When you prune always remember how old 
the fruit spur must be in order to bear, and arrange in advance 
for the formation of more and more fruit spurs. As explained 
in the thinning chapter, two or three years are required to 
develop most fruit buds (excepting peach and grape) to the 
point where they blossom. Unless careful thinning and growth- 

68 



PROPER TRAINING OF TREES 

checking are done, the production and ripening of one or two 
fruits on a spur will prevent that spur from working ahead to 
develop fruit buds for the next and the second year ahead. This 
it has to do if it is to set fruit again before three years. 

Judicious tipping greatly helps fruit spurs to keep on form- 
ing new fruit buds, and, of course, thinning the fruit aids greatly. 
Still, it is a good plan to see that each year there are large num- 
bers of fruit spurs which do not bear at all. Let some ripen 
the crop for next year, others the crop for two years ahead, 
and still others the crop for the third year to come. By careful 
pruning you can develop on your trees enough fruit spurs to 
do this. But it takes study and care — not so much work at 
any one time as a few minutes now and a few again. Watch 
your trees expanding and growing. The trees will develop the 
fewest possible fruit spurs if left alone — you want them to 
develop the greatest possible number. 

The healing of wounds must be considered if pruning is 
to be productive only of good. In order to find how to make 
cuts that heal the quickest, let us examine into the method 
of growing a bud or limb. Close to the heart of the limb or 
trunk a tiny knot will form, and grow out through the wood 
to the bark. After this the projecting knot will have bark of 
its own. For our purpose it is correct to think of each bud or 
twig or limb as a thing in itself, just as though you bored a hole 
in the parent stock and drove a wooden plug in. When this 
projecting limb (small or large) is cut off, the part within the 
parent wood dies. It is not altogether a part of the trunk or 
the old limb. If the cut is made close to the trunk or old limb, 
however, bark from it will grow over the end of this dead wood 
inside, sealing it up entirely and keeping out water, bacteria 
and fungi spores. 

Bacteria act on an exposed dead stub of a limb exactly as 
they do on a piece of wood in the soil, disintegrating it and 
"rotting" it, thus leaving a hollow into the heart of the tree. 
Part of the dead stub merely dissolves in water, the same as 
salt will. After the bacteria come the fungi, which tear down 
(rot) the dead stub with their roots, exactly as the grass and 
tree roots help pulverize and tame earth. The bark on the 
parent stock grows over a wound by callousing — that is, by 
forming a swelled ring around it, gradually closing in more and 
more until the surface is completely covered again. 

The tree can do this healing easily if the wound is close to 
the surface and parallel with it. It cannot do it if there is a stub ; 
therefore cut closely. No matter if the surface of the wound 
is larger, saw right through the thick part at the base, and 
cut closely. Make a cut underneath the larger limbs, to prevent 
splitting down, — such a split is inexcusable on a fruit tree. Win- 
ter pruning is bad, because the tender bark freezes and kills 
back from the edge of the wound, making healing more diflS- 
cult. Every wound larger than a quarter-inch should be covered 
with some substance that will keep water out and protect 
the raw surface from the air (preventing evaporation) and 
kill bacteria and spores of fungi. Raw linseed oil paint is very 

69 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

good, grafting wax is better, and even clay helps. Tar and some 
other substances injure the bark. Do not neglect this painting 
over of the wounds, as it is one of the most important oper- 
ations connected with pruning limbs thicker than an inch. 
When tipping back, cut about one-fourth inch above a bud 
or branch. This stub will then live and heal over. 

Except at planting time, when damaged roots should come 
off, with a slicing cut that leaves the slant under, root pruning 
is to be avoided in the East and North. It is of practicable 
benefit only when the soil is very loose, rich and warm, and 
the climate almost subtropical. Along the Atlantic and Gulf 
coast, in the southern states, a practice of cutting all roots 
back to six inches, or even shorter, is sometimes seen, but there 
is little excuse for this. Better keep all the perfect roots you 
can. 

We do not say much here about the tools to use in pruning, 
or the methods of cutting, etc. Those things can be decided 
by every grower. Saws, shears, axes, knives and other tools 
of all kinds are at his command. We picture some in this 
book. If wrong cuts are made, limbs allowed to split down, 
or ragged ends left projecting, the operator is not a good fruit- 
grower, that is all, and no amount of suggestion will keep him 
from failure. Study your trees and train them as you would 
a child — that's the way to succeed. 

SUMMARY 

Trees produce a thousand seeds and a hundred buds to 
every one that can possibly find a chance to mature. Pruning 
is a question of selecting this one out of a thousand that will 
accomplish best the result we want. Proper pruning directs 
the growth to where you want it by disappointing buds that 
start in other directions and with other aims. It is fooHsh to 
think that trees will naturally grow into the best shape, for 
nature's plan is to make trees thick and big as fast as possible, 
while modern orcharding demands trees that are low and open, 
and demands large, flawless fruit instead of little, imperfect 
fruit. 

Adapt your pruning to the habits of the trees. For nine- 
tenths of all trees a low head and an open head is the best possible 
form. 

Go over trees often. Do your pruning by pinching tips, 
rather than by sawing big limbs after they grow in the wrong 
place. Young trees must be pruned right when they are planted 
(headed from twelve to twenty inches from ground, and branches 
shortened) and must be gone over twice a season for a few 
years. Prune bearing trees every year. They will not need much 
if properly cared for while young. 

Summer pruning results in more fruit buds; winter pruning 
in more wood growth. Aim to make young trees grow, and 
older ones bear. You can do this by varying the tipping back 
and cutting out. 

Wounds made in winter are hard to heal. All large wounds 

70 



QUALITY CROPS EVERY YEAR 

should be painted. Cuts should be made close to trunks or 
limbs and parallel with them. 

Watch trees expanding and growing. Live with them. 
Train them as you would a child. It is tree nature to develop 
the fewest possible fruit buds — you want them to develop the 
greatest possible number after the trees are big enough. The 
way to take advantage of every possible inch of tree growth is 
to direct it often in the way you want it to go — work over trees 
several times a year 



Quality Fruit, Crops Every Year 

CULTIVATION, pruning and spraying will cause fruit 
trees to set heavy crops regularly, and, even if neglected, 
trees will load their limbs to the ground every three or 
four years. Here is a danger that, when not guarded against, 
will defeat the purpose which all orchard work is intended to 
accomplish. 

We care for fruit trees in order to get as much as possible 
of the finest grade of fruit. Now, trees will not bear every 
year if they are allowed to mature all the fruit they set, or all 
that does not drop off naturally; nor will they produce much 
except small, inferior fruit. 

An apple tree will start twice as many little apples as it 
is capable of "raising." A peach tree usually sets ten times the 
number of peaches that it can develop and mature properly. 
Other fruits will act in the same way. Because of this growers 
must thin their fruit. 

We may compare the habits of trees to certain facts in the ani- 
mal kingdom. If a flock of Wyandotte hens are fed right and 
housed properly, and if their eggs are taken from them every 
day, they will keep on laying, summer and winter. But if these 
same hens were allowed to keep their eggs they soon would 
want to hatch. Each hen would lay a nestful of eggs, and then 
would sit on them until her breast was nothing but skin and 
bone. Probably she would raise, each season, two or three broods 
of scraggy, lousy, nondescript chickens, which minks and hawks 
could catch easily. It is the same with all animals. If they 
breed to excess, they not only destroy their own bodies, but 
their offspring are far from perfect. 

With trees, it is the production of seeds which uses up vital- 
ity and plant food. If trees are allowed to develop and ripen 
only a limited number of seeds, they will build large, flawless, 
high-colored, rich-flavored fruit; moreover, they will produce 
such crops every year. If they ripen too many seeds, they will 
exhaust themselves and will produce only a small quantity 
of perfect fruit. 

It takes a tree two or three years to develop an apple, pear, 
plum, cherry, or other fruit, on wood old enough to bear. 
(Grapes, peaches and quinces require one year.) We do not 

71 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

see this growth during the first year or two, as it is going on 
in the fruit spur and the bud. We must understand it, how- 
ever, and plan for it when we want the biggest crops. (For 
an explanation of the diflference between fruit buds and leaf 
buds, see the pruning section.) 

A fruit spur usually has several fruit buds, all of which 
blossom, and most of which set fruit and make a cluster. The 
rule for thinning is to remove fruits until they are no closer 
than four to six inches, doing the work as soon as they are 
large enough to be found easily — the size of hickory nuts — 
and as soon as the fruit has set tightly. If this is done, only 
a tenth or a twentieth of the buds will mature fruit, although 
nearly all are likely to set fruit at the beginning of the season. 

As soon as the baby fruit is taken ofiF, the other nine (or the 
other nineteen) buds will proceed to start fruit for the next 
year or the second year, while the fruit allowed to hang on is 
growing and ripening. A reserve crop always will be coming 
on if proper thinning is practiced before the surplus fruit has 
had a chance to exhaust the vitality of the buds, and this 
will make certain the setting of a crop of fruit on that tree every 
year. 

Thinning saves the tree, and by reducing the amount of 
energy which the tree puts into growing its crop, actually 
saves in fertilizer. It has been demonstrated frequently that 
a fruit tree on which thinning has been done correctly needs 
only half as much potash as is required by another on which 
the fruit has not been thinned. 

Thinning would pay even though it should reduce the 
total number of bushels by half, but it does no such thing. 
We have seen trees from which 800, 1,200, 1,500 1,800, and up 
to 2,000 apples by actual count, each, had been thinned. Often 
fewer were left on than were taken oflF. But it was found at the 
end of the season that the trees had put enough extra size 
into the apples remaining to make up for the difference in the 
number. 

When a tree starts to develop 4,000 apples, take 2,000 of 
them off, and the remaining 2,000 will make as many bushels 
as the original 4,000 on that tree would have made. If apples 
are thinned to six inches apart (other fruits in proportion), 
the number of bushels will be changed but little; if they are 
thinned to three inches, practically the same bulk will be borne, 
there being more apples, smaller in size. Thinning within 
reasonable limits influences the size and quality of the apples 
but not the number of bushels. 

It is certain also that when fruit is thinned those left will 
take on a higher color. A more correct way of describing the 
process is that the color comes earlier in the season. All fruits 
would color up in time, but winter comes on, and time is a 
thing fruit does not have. Ripening on thinned trees is more 
thorough and complete. Few apples will be ripe one side and 
green the other; nearly all will be colored naturally and hand- 
somely on both sides, and be ripe throughout. 
^ One reason why thinning is so effective is due to the fact 

72 



QUALITY CROPS EVERY YEAR 

that trees feed from both the roots and the leaves, as no one 
now disputes. At the stem of every fruit is a bunch of leaves. 
Sometimes there are half a dozen, sometimes only one, but 
those are the leaves which mainly feed the fruit. (A smaller amount 
of nutriment is drawn from any leaves within a foot.) Prove 
this for yourself by pulling those stem leaves off several twigs. 
You will find that without them the fruit will stay small and 
green. Think then, how, when there is only one apple every 
six inches, each will have a dozen or more leaves feeding it, 
and consequently will develop to its fullest extent. This simple 
fact explains a great many things, and if we bear it in mind 
we easily can better the quality of many bushels of fruit as 
we work about the trees. 

The proportion of water in fruits will vary, of course. 
Apples have about 87 per cent. Now, since fruit is made up 
so largely of water, it costs trees very little to develop the 
flesh — so little, in fact, that we can almost overlook the plant- 
food required. Thus, any given number of big apples does not 
use up five per cent more plant-food than the same number 
of small apples. All this extra size and color and flavor costs 
practically nothing. It is to be had for the taking. Even the 
work of thinning is only doing in June labor that would have 
to be done anyhow in September or October. The other two 
thousand apples would have to be picked when ripe, and it 
does not require any more time to pick big apples than it does 
to pick little ones. 

All wormy, small and inferior fruits should come off first. 
This will destroy an immense number of insects and fungi 
spores, just at the stage when it will do the most good — getting 
rid of the next generation before it is hatched. Good fruits 
should come off next, until only one remains of the cluster, 
and until the fruits are far enough apart. 

Fruit on tips of long whips should come off, too, as it will 
not develop into fancy specimens. If, after thinning to the 
regular distance, so much weight remains that the branches 
require props, thin some more. Props are a sign of poor orchard- 
ing. Don't be afraid of taking off too much. Harden your 
heart and snip ahead. 

Thinning the fruit on young trees is a necessity. Three- 
or four- or five-year-old trees often will stunt themselves seri- 
ously by maturing all the fruit they set. On two- and three- 
year-old apple and pear, and on one- and two-year trees of other 
kinds, the blossoms should come off, not even waiting for fruit 
to set. 

It costs from ten to fifty cents to thin a twenty-year old 
apple tree. Stone fruits can be thinned by pulling the fruits 
off, while apples and pears will have to be cut off with shears. 
But mark this down and wear it on your sleeve: don't damage 
the buds from which you take fruit. They are your next year's 
crop. 

By thinning, you can make your entire crop bring 20 to 300 
per cent more than it would without thinning. You can have 
$i.5o-bushel apples, instead of the 50-cent kind. Thinning 

73 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

would pay if you would get only half as many bushels, because 
five bushels of large, perfect apples are worth more than ten 
bushels of small, inferior ones. 

It is almost impossible to grow first-class peaches without 
thinning, and equally difficult to get good plums. With grapes 
it is no less important, but they should be thinned by winter 
pruning. Cherries and pears require less thinning than other 
fruits, but still they need it and cannot do nearly so well as 
they should unless they get it. 

SUMMARY 

To get heavy crops of flawless fruit every year, when other 
conditions have been met, thinning is necessary. 

Fruit trees naturally will set twice as many fruits as they can 
mature perfectly. Unless removed, these will devitalize the 
trees, exhaust the fruit buds, and then grow into imperfect, 
small fruit. 

By taking off half an ordinary crop, we do not reduce the 
number of bushels, but increase the size of each remaining 
fruit. 

High color, rich flavor and perfect form are insured by 
directing the whole energy of the tree into a limited number of 
fruits. 

Only a half or a third of the fruit buds on a tree should bear 
each year. The others should be developing for the next two 
crops. It takes most fruits two or three years to develop. 

Never let trees that are too young mature many fruits. 

Remember that the big profits come only from fine fruit, 
and that to get it you must thin intelligently. 

Take off all fruits that grow closer than from four to six 
inches. Leave only the finest specimens — removing damaged 
ones, smaller ones, those on the ends of long whips, etc. Do 
it soon after the fruit has set tightly, when it is about as large 
as hickory nuts. 



Living Enemies of Trees 

ONE of the fourteen essentials for fruit-growing mentioned 
at the beginning of this book was absence of enemies. 
When a grower has mastered the methods of producing 
good fruit, and has trees coming on nicely, his work is not done, 
for he must overcome a lot of bugs and diseases which will 
stunt or kill his trees and prevent the growth or ruin the quality 
of his fruit if they are left alone. 

Most fruit-growers are convinced of this. The following 
paragraph is not for them. But still many farmers point to 
the fact that until a few years ago no spraying or other fighting 
was done, and say it will not pay now. These men have an 
honest idea that spraying is a fad which soon will cease to be 

74 



LIVING ENEM l ES OF TREES 

popular. Owners of old trees and planters of new orchards are 
especially likely to neglect this work, giving themselves the com- 
forting assurance that they, anyway, do not need to do it. 

Such a course causes all kinds of trouble. Enemies get a 
start and are harder to overcome later, when the grower wakes 
up, as he must if he expects from his trees returns worth talking 
about. Some of the greatest fruit states have laws compelling 
owners to spray their trees. In certain sections spraying must 
be done or the authorities will spray the trees and charge the 
cost in the regular tax levy, or if trees are diseased will even 
cut them down. This shows how spraying is regarded in some 
of the most successful fruit-growing localities. It pays to 
spray every season, all kinds of trees, and in all localities. 
If you have not done it before, do not hesitate now. Acquire 
knowledge of the enemies, of the spraying machines, and of 
the materials to use, and when the proper time comes, spray. 

Trees are living things, and must be so regarded. If you are 
to succeed in producing profitable crops, you must approach 
orchard problems with an open mind. By intelligent spraying 
you will make sure of having healthy trees, stimulate growth 
and protect foliage. Proper spraying will prevent scab, blotch, 
rust, nearly all rotting, damage to fruit by worms; will control 
scale insects, and almost, if not quite, all the troubles that keep 
fruit out of the flawless class. It will insure a big crop of full- 
sized, clean leaves. Foliage is an essential physical part of a 
tree. To secure good foliage, you must protect the trunk, limbs, 
twigs and buds of the tree from injury. Spraying does this, and 
at the same time seems to help growth, especially when lime- 
sulphur is used. It is certain that trees which are sprayed take 
on a brighter green, make a better growth, live longer, and 
produce fruit which is cleaner, better colored and better ripened 
than trees which are not sprayed. (Probably due to antiseptic 
action of spray materials.) If done right, spraying can not 
possibly harm trees, and is almost sure to cause them to live 
twenty years or more longer than they would if they had not 
been sprayed. 

The first essential in spraying is to find out what to spray /or 
— what you want to kill, and how to go about it. There are four 
classes of enemies that must be fought, with many kinds in each 
class. You may have none, one, or all four on your trees now — 
if none, you are likely to get some next month. That is not 
cheering, but, if you heed the warning, it will help you to add 
several dollars to the value of the fruit you can harvest from 
each tree. 

There are insects that chew at trees or fruit, like codlin 
moth larvae (apple worms) and curculio; insects that suck 
at trees, like San Jose scale; parasites that take root on trees or 
fruit, likebitterrot, blotch, and mildew; and bacteria which attack 
leaves, bark or wood, like fire blight. Each has to be fought at 
the right time and with different materials, but the treatments 
often can be combined so that several enemies may be overcome 
by the same sprayings. 

To give the most and clearest information in the least space, 

75 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

we have adopted the plan of describing briefly the enemies of 
each fruit in the chapter given to the fruit, so they may be 
recognized, and of telling the remedy for each trouble and how 
to make and use it in the spraying directions and in the formulas 
immediately following. Here we give general points that must 
not be overlooked: 

Insects that chew are killed by poisons. Arsenate of lead is 
used universally to control them, and is generally conceded to 
be the only satisfactory remedy. 

Insects that feed by inserting their beak into the bark and 
sucking juice cannot eat poisons placed on the surface, so they 
must be gone after with a contact mixture that will kill them 
when it touches their bodies. In the long search for suitable 
materials for this purpose, experimenters had great trouble to 
get mixtures of a chemical composition that would kill insects and 
yet not destroy or injure trees. The margin is narrow and the 
greatest care must be used in preparing the remedies, both to 
get the right proportions of the different materials, and to com- 
bine them right. A little change in mixing lime-sulphur, for 
instance, may make all the difference between a solution that 
is effective and one that is worthless or dangerous. 

To control sucking insects, the miscible oils may be used to 
a considerable extent. Their chief value lies in their ability to 
clean up quickly bad infestations of scale on apple and pear 
trees. (They are also useful on shade trees, for several enemies.) 
But nine-tenths of the time, lime-sulphur solution is unques- 
tionably the best material for all sucking insects on all fruit 
trees. 

Carefully note that some spraying is done on trees when 
dormant with one kind of lime-sulphur; and when in leaf, with 
a different mixture, or at a different strength. The scale insects 
(or any sucking insects) are very hardy and difficult to kill. 
Strong solutions must be used to do it, and these solutions would 
kill foliage and tender twigs if applied during the growing 
period. A solution that will not damage the foliage will hold 
the insects in check. The solutions must reach every fraction 
of an inch of surface and should go on with good pressure. 
A pressure of loo to 150 pounds to the square inch will insure 
results that cannot be obtained with lower pressure, and will 
economize material. 

Fungi and parasites are the third class of tree enemies 
mentioned. These really are plants, of a very low order, which 
live by attaching themselves to other plants and drawing their 
food from the living bark, wood, leaves or fruit. Leaf spots 
and rusts, the rots, etc., are familiar forms of fungi. Toadstools 
and common mold are also fungi, of a different kind, growing 
only on dead matter, while the fungi which bother trees grow 
on living matter. 

Fungi generally increase by dividing their bodies and by grow- 
ing a fruiting stalk, which finds its way up or out from the root, 
as a plant stalk grows from the seed, then produces a spore 
or spores. The spores are thrown off and scattered by wind, 
birds, etc., and sometimes by fogs. Most fungi live inside the 

76 



LIVING ENEMIES OF TREES 

bark, fruit or leaf tissue. To protect your trees and fruit from 
injury by fungus, the remedy must be applied at the right time — 
which is just before the spores have made their appearance. 
This will make it impossible for them to germinate or live after 
they lodge on bark, foliage or fruit. 

If the spores once germinate or start to grow, they com- 
mence to destroy the tissues on which they live. Even though 
you should kill them then, you could not replace the leaf or 
bark tissue that has been destroyed already. You must coat 
baby fungi with a mixture that will kill them, and the work 
is done, for mature fungi "plants" will not live long if not 
allowed to reproduce. Prevent the injury — you cannot cure it. 

While there are almost unnumbered kinds of fungus, the 
preventive measures are simple. Two or three applications of 
a standard fungicide mixture at the proper time and in a 
thorough manner are all that is required. Lime-sulphur solution 
at the dilute strength, combined with arsenate of lead, or self- 
boiled lime-sulphur, are effective for early sprayings most of the 
time; but in some instances Bordeaux mixture is still the proper 
remedy. They should be used in the ways advised in spraying 
directions. 

For diseases of trees, or attacks of bacteria, examples of 
which are fire blight of pear and apple, and yellows of peach, no 
material is much of a remedy and spraying is of little use. Trees 
do not have a circulation, as do animal bodies. It is ab- 
solutely impossible to get a remedy dissolved into the sap of 
trees and to make it circulate to every fiber. The only thing 
to do is to cut away the affected limb or tree several inches 
below any sign of the trouble. Fire blight will show by a dark 
line just how far it has gone, and you must cut below this. 
Yellows, however, seems to be in the whole tree, and the tree 
should be removed, root and branch. Watch your orchard, and 
when you see indications of this class of enemies, get your axe 
and saw quickly. 

In doing this work, have a strong germicide or antiseptic 
into which you can dip your tools after cutting off each tree 
or limb. If you do not do this, the tools will carry bacteria, 
and thus spread the trouble. But do not hesitate to cut. The 
only time when it pays to try to "doctor up" an affected tree 
is in the case of a fine old landmark or lawn tree. Here you can 
wash or most thoroughly spray the whole tree — trunk and twigs 
and leaves — with a solution of corrosive sublimate or of copper 
sulfate, with a little chance of checking the spread of the disease 
so that excessive pruning will not be needed. 

There is considerable difference between the different fruits, 
and varieties in each fruit vary, as to their ability to withstand 
insects and diseases, and also as to their ability to stand strong 
spray materials without burning. One kind of fruit, or one 
variety, will be badly attacked by some trouble, while right 
beside it will be trees of a different fruit or of the same fruit 
and a different variety, which will be affected very little or not 
at all. Thus peach is always more tender than apple, and it 
will not stand nearly as strong materials. 

77 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

As an instance of varietal differences, York Imperial apple 
leaves are always badly infected by cedar rust whenever any 
spores are near, while the leaves of Greening and Ben Davis 
trees are little troubled. On the other hand, Ben Davis fruit 
will be seriously infected, while both the Greening and York Im- 
perial fruit will be clean. In certain sections a particular enemy 
may be especially bad, and almost entirely unknown in another 
section. So the differences go. Plum is tougher than peach, but 
not nearly so tough as cherry, nor cherry as pear. You must 
adapt your spraying to the kind of tree to be sprayed. 

The importance of knowing the class, the life history and 
the habits of your little enemies can not be over-emphasized. 
Spraying is of no use unless the proper mixture is applied at the 
right time, in the right strength, and in the right way. You 
seldom can kill an adult bug — you can kill only the young at a 
certain stage of their life, and so prevent the coming of a new 
generation. The life of insects generally is short and they eat 
little when matured. Adult enemies will not do much harm, and 
soon will disappear if they are not allowed to produce young. 

Often there are only two to four days during which the spray- 
ing can do any good. All the trees have to be gone over then — 
every leaf and twig and inch of bark. Rainy weather may cut 
even this short time down to one-half or one-third the time, 
and you must have men, machines and materials ready to do 
the work quickly. A great many of the enemies hatch just 
about the time buds are opening and just when the petals 
begin to fall from blossoms. Those are spraying times. Some 
insects hatch two or more broods in a season; so to destroy them 
requires several sprayings in one summer — always at a certain 
time, to catch the young at the right period. 

Study the enemies. Learn to know them well — to know 
what they look like, their habits and when to expect them. 
When you know these things, you can fight them successfully. 
Merely to "spray," without knowing, will be the poorest of 
guess-work, with little chance of success. Even when you feel 
there are no large numbers of enemies in your orchard, spray 
for insurance. You can protect absolutely a hundred dollars' 
worth of fruit with two dollars' worth of spraying — and it pays. 

Thoroughness is the key to success in spraying. All the bark 
and both top and bottom of every leaf must be wet. If you miss 
a branch in the top or center of the trees or the under sides of 
a few leaves, enough insects may be left to cover the tree again 
in a week. It is something like the case of the woman who 
worked all day at killing flies in her home. When night came 
there was just one pair left, which, in the kindness of her heart, 
she let live. But, as she sorrowfully said afterward, "Early 
next morning there were a million." 

Put the spray material on with force. At least loo pounds' 
pressure should be used, while in some cases 150 or 200 pounds 
is best. Drive it into the cracks and crevices in leaves and 
bark. Get nozzles close to all the twigs and branches, and use 
hose rods, wagon towers and high-pressure pumps that will 
enable you to do the work right. 

78 



LIVING ENEMIES OF TREES 

The question of sprayers is not hard to solve. A few gas 
sprayers have been made, but compressed-air machines are the 
most satisfactory by all odds. We have found several makes 
and sizes on the market to be very good. Some are illustrated 
here. A man usually develops a liking for some one kind after 
becoming well acquainted with all, because of ditferences in 
type and working. The principal points to consider in buying 
are these: 

An outfit should be of a size suited to your needs, and made 
so it will work satisfactorily under your condition. For a half- 
dozen trees a small hand-pump in a bucket will do the work. 
A knapsack sprayer is a better form of this. The next step up 
is a sprayer with a tank and pump, mounted on a frame in the 
form of a wheelbarrow, and worked by either one or two men. 
Where you have to spray more than fifty trees, it will not pay 
to go as slow as this kind of machine does the work. 

Even for a dozen trees it will pay to have a barrel-pump, 
to be set on a wagon or sled, and run by two men. Effective 
work can be done with this, and many orchards containing a 
couple of thousand trees depend on two or three such outfits, 
yet it is poor economy to use this type of sprayer for more than 
a hundred and fifty ten-year-old trees. 

Variations of this form of sprayer are to have the pump and 
the barrel or tank mounted on a frame and two wheels of its 
own, either as low as possible, to pass over stumps, etc., or as 
high as a man's head, to aid in getting pressure. The high type 
is best on land that is nearly level, but the low type is necessary 
on hillsides, on account of the danger of upsetting. Whether 
the mounting be on wheels, sled or wagon, the tank barrel 
or other shape, and made of wood or steel, the pumps hori- 
zontal or perpendicular, the handle long or short, red or green, 
the air pressure is got by working the lever by hand. 

Every man who has a hundred and fifty or more ten-year-old 
trees, or a larger number of younger ones, should get a power 
sprayer. The advantage of securing the pressure from an 
engine instead of from man-power are many. The pressure from 
an engine on the average is about twice as high and more regu- 
lar than with hand pumps, insuring better work; the engine 
does not get tired; and two or three nozzle-men can give all 
their attention to reaching every leaf and twig with the liquid. 
With a power outfit you can get over the whole orchard during 
the limited time in which spraying needs to be done — you will 
not have to start too early and continue too late. 

There are many types of power sprayers, some with engines 
and pumps on skids, to be mounted on a sled or wagon with a 
tank, but the best are those on low, broad wheels of their own, 
with a cut-under frame that permits short turning; a steel tank 
holding about two hundred and fifty gallons, hung no higher 
than two feet from the ground, and the engine and pump at 
one end of this, preferably in front. The tank should contain 
a geared agitator. The pump and all other machinery should 
be taken apart easily for removing clogging materials or for 
repairs and cleaning. A tower built over the tank, with a 

79 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

platform about ten feet from the ground, will help in reaching 
the high limbs. Light draft is an important consideration, 
and both weight and wheels influence this. 

Pumps and engines with several cylinders are better than 
those with but one cylinder, although the majority of power 
sprayers — good ones too — rely on one -cylinder engines and 
pumps. Whatever the size, from knapsack to six-hundred-gal- 
lon, twenty-five-horse-power sprayers, insist on strong, durable 
construction. Pump valves should be of brass, or better, of 
bronze, and tanks usually should be of steel. Wood is good, 
but too heavy. Other passible materials will be corroded by the 
chemicals in a season or two. Bordeaux is harder on steel than 
lime, but is used less. 

What is known as the central charging system has a pumping 
and mixing plant, and a dozen or more compression tanks. 
These tanks are nearly filled with spray mixture, and, after 
charging, several tanks can be hauled to the orchard, where 
one is loaded on a light spraying wagon, hose and nozzles 
attached, and the spraying done from stored-up pressure. This 
system saves much time in a large orchard. The spraying crew 
keeps right at work all the time. The cost of installing such a 
plant is about $2,500, including central engine and pump, and 
tanks. 

When buying a sprayer of any size, get the catalogues of the 
makers who advertise in farm and fruit magazines and books. 
There is a wealth of education in these. By studying the situa- 
tion in the catalogues and by writing to makers, you can select 
intelligently that which suits you best. But do not buy a pump 
that is too small, and do insist on getting one that will do good 
work at the start and for ten years or more. Better stick to 
the kinds known to be reliable. 

There are many different kinds of nozzles. Your sprayer 
will be fully equipped with necessary attachments when it 
comes from the manufacturers, and experience will teach the 
need of additional nozzles, hose, extensions that may be used 
for easiest work. Clogging of nozzles is a great trouble. Some 
nozzles deliver the spray more effectively than others — that 
is, so it will reach farther and will spread better over leaves 
and bark. You will need plenty of nozzles, so you can change 
quickly for a different mixture or on account of accidents. 

The directions here tell pretty plainly what mixture to use 
for each purpose, but you must become familiar with handling 
the chemicals themselves before you will be able to use materials 
most quickly, cheaply and efficiently. Beginners always will 
do well to buy and use reliable commercial sprays, at least 
until they better understand everything about killing "bugs." 

Many orchardists who have large numbers of trees depend 
wholly on some of the excellent prepared mixtures supplied by 
responsible chemical makers. For less than fifty or a hundred 
trees, it is often cheaper in any case to buy ready-mixed spray 
materials than to mix them at home. The great advantage of 
dependable commercial sprays is that the materials are pure, 
are properly combined, and that you are given specified direc- 

80 




Note the tower on wagon frame, and the long nozzle rod for high limbs. 




Types of nozzles and of barrel pump. Have plenty of nozzles. 




Six-year orchard. Small picture shows compressor for putting lid on bushel apple boxes. 




In proper storage-houses, apples keep well in bulk if rushed to storage when picked. 

8i 




''Take hoim b.isket, should be given more attention. Face barrels like this. 




Low trees are easy to pick from. Picking baskets should have turn-down handles. 




Packing-sned in peach orchard. Processed peaches that bring guod prices. 




Use diagonal pack, and tissue wrapping to deliver apples to consumer in good shape. 

82 



LIVING ENEMIES OF TREES 

tions for applying them for each class of enemies. You do not 
have to study the "bugs," the spray, and the time to spray. 

You could spray for each class of enemy — go over the trees 
once for each kind — but by combining the different materials 
properly, you can make two or three or four sprayings a season 
do all the work. With some one or two or three standard mix- 
tures for the different classes of enemies, as bases, you can add 
poisons or other materials and strengthen or weaken them, 
and in this way meet all the conditions. 

Suppose, for instance, that you buy or make the standard 
lime-sulphur mixture. Properly diluted, this will be your 
dormant San Jose scale spray; diluted still more, with arsenate 
of lead added, or made in the self-boiled form (generally 
best), with the lead, it is the thing for spraying buds and blos- 
soms — the poison killing codlin moth and curculio, the lime- 
sulphur controlling fungi and sucking insects. Combinations 
of various kinds can be made to suit the occasions. That is 
where study and experience count. 

Elevated tanks for both water and mixture are great savers 
of labor and time. With them you can quickly fill sprayer 
tanks by gravity without pumping or dipping. Mixing can be 
done both by gravity and by pumps. Run two streams of 
different materials into one vessel at the same time, with force 
if possible, and mixing will be thorough. Do the final mixing 
in spraying-tank. Some of the power outfits are equipped to 
mix materials with their pumps or with the agitator. The 
engine will do it more completely and more quickly than it can 
be done by hand. 

Our final word to you on spraying is this: keep posted. 
Spraying knowledge has reached an advanced stage, yet much 
progress is made every year. A few years ago, when we knew 
little about spraying, we had to take various roundabout 
courses to accomplish results. As our understanding of the 
subject grows more complete, we take many shorts cuts. Many 
a ten dollars can be cut off the cost of thorough spraying by 
knowing all about a certain habit of this or that enemy, and by 
knowing the exact effect of some mixtures on the pests. What 
we think is a good spray this year, may be replaced by a better 
one next year. We must keep informed. 

The farm and fruit papers and magazines, new fruit books, 
state and national experiment stations and chemical com- 
panies continually are supplying new and valuable information 
about enemies and about how to overcome them. Be sure to 
get all the state and government bulletins, and all the books 
that you can find or can afford to buy. Read them, and make 
notes of what impresses you as valuable for use in your orchard. 
One season of this will educate you and enable you to work out 
a plan by which you can do your work at the least expense and 
with the greatest results. During the winter is the time to 
plan the next season's spraying. Go to your trees often. Get 
a magnifying glass and learn to identify the various scales and 
insects. When you know the enemies, and watch the trees, all 
bad infectations can be prevented. 

83 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

INDEX OF MATERIALS TO USE IN CONTROL- 
LING INSECTS AND FUNGI. AND OF 
WHEN TO APPLY 

Re.lEDIES ARE NUMBERED IN THE FORMULAS FOLLOWING 

The principal insects and fungous diseases seriously affecting 
each fruit are the following, which are named as nearly as 
possible in the order of the time they will appear. In iso- 
ated communities there may be heavy infestations of some 
usually unimportant trouble, but it will come under one of the 
three classes, and can be remedied by the material mentioned as 
a remedy for others in that same class. If spraying for the enemies 
named here is done thoroughly, little attention need be paid to 
some few less serious ones, because they will be disposed of 
without additional sprayings directed solely at them. 

APPLE 

Sucking Insects Chewing Insects Fungous Diseases 

San Jose Scale Codlin Moth Scab 

Oyster Shell and Curculio Cedar Rust 

Scruffy Scales Borers Leaf Spots 

Plant Lice (Aphides) Canker Worms Cloud and Blotch 

Tent Caterpillars Bitter Rot 

San Jose Scale. Concentrated lime-sulphur solution or 
miscible oil during the dormant period; that is, from two or 
three weeks after the leaves fall till the beginning of growth 
in spring. Mild days during fall, winter or spring should be 
selected for spraying. Lime-sulphur is almost always the best 
treatment. During summer the use of self-boiled lime-sulphur, 
or of diluted lime-sulphur solution with arsenate of lead, will 
hold scale in check. 

Other Scales. Lime-sulphur solution or miscible oils early 
in spring, followed by soap solution in May and in August, 
when scale insects hatch and move. 

Codlin Moth. First brood appears first about blooming time, 
second brood three or four weeks later. Use arsenate of lead 
after blossom petals fall and while calyx is open (a period of 
about ten days); again, for second brood, three weeks after 
first treatment. 

[Note. — The codlin moth treatment should be combined with the 
second and third sprayings for scab. Use strong lead solution — two to two 
and one-half pounds of paste to fifty gallons.] 

Curculio. Appears about the time for second spraying 
for codlin moth (third for scab) and is controlled by it. Arsenate 
of lead in some mixture three weeks after petals fall. 

Plant Lice, or Aphides. Some seasons they cause great injury 
to foliage and fruit. They are sucking insects, and can be con- 
trolled by weak soap solutions, or weak solutions of miscible 
oil, if the application is made as soon as they appear. They 
increase with wonderful rapidity, and work largely on the under 
side of leaves, making the leaves curl up. Spraying must be 
done early or it will be impossible to kill them. Spraying before 

84 



SPRAYING MATERIALS AND DATES 

buds burst with lime-sulphur solution helps to keep them away. 

Canker Worms. There are two distinct species: the spring 
canker worms and the fall canker worms; both are leaf-eating 
insects. Use arsenate of lead. The spring worm in nearly all 
cases will be controlled by the Codlin Moth sprayings. The 
fall worm is controlled by arsenate of lead in water, applied 
when insects appear. 

Tent Caterpillar. The apple-tree tent caterpillar moths 
appear usually the first two weeks in July, in northern Atlantic 
states, and deposit eggs. These eggs hatch in spring, usually 
about the last of April, and the worms begin constructing nests 
at once. Spray with arsenate of lead when the worms appear. 
One thorough spraying will kill them all. 

Scab. One of the earliest of fungous diseases to appear. 
Use diluted lime-sulphur solution combined with arsenate of 
lead, or self-boiled lime-sulphur with arsenate of lead. Apply 
first just after cluster buds open and before bloom opens; second 
spraying, about ten days after blossom petals fall; third spray- 
ing, three weeks after second. (The arsenate of lead in the second 
and third sprayings controls codlin moth, curculio, etc., 
besides adding to the fungicidal value of the lime-sulphur, and 
preventing the diluted solution from burning foliage.) 

Cedar Rust. Appears about the same time as scab, and 
spraying dates are about the same. Its injury is most serious 
on leaves of York Imperial. It also attacks fruit on Ben Davis 
and other varieties considerably. Cut out all cedar trees in 
the vicinity. Lime-sulphur and bordeaux are only partly success- 
ful in controlling it. The only material that has ever showed 
over 75 per cent efficiency against cedar rust is Atomic sulphur. 

Leaf Spots. These include several different kinds, but, for 
the purpose of spraying, may be considered as one. They ap- 
pear about the time of the second spraying for scab. In sections 
where any one species may severely attack some variety, two 
or three additional sprayings may be required for control. The 
first two sprayings are the same as the second and third for 
scab, and the others should follow at intervals of about three 
weeks. 

Sooty Fimgus (Apple Cloud), Fly Speck Fungus, Blotch, etc. 
These troubles are remedied by the sprayings for scab, etc. 
Diluted lime-sulphur solution to which is added arsenate of 
lead, or self-boiled lime-sulphur with arsenate of lead, will do 
the work. Bordeaux is seldom needed, and never should be 
used before the fruit has reached the size of hickory nuts. 

Bitter Rot. Chiefly a disease of the fruit, but attacks branches 
of trees also. Bordeaux Mixture is the most effective remedy 
for this trouble. Lime-sulphur will show only about 50 to 60 
per cent efficiency against it. Spray first about July i, with 
Bordeaux Mixture with arsenate of lead added; second, repeat 
in three weeks; third, repeat about the middle of August. In 
wet seasons a fourth spraying is sometimes needed. The arsen- 
ate of lead may be omitted in third and fourth sprayings. 

[Note. — Do not use Bordeaux on tender fruit and leaves — it will surely 
russet them; use lime-sulphur in proper form instead.] 

85 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

Blight. This must be cut out quickly, whenever it appears, 
and tools washed after every few cuts with a strong antiseptic. 

ASPARAGUS 

Insects Fungous Diseases 

Asparagus Beetle Rust 

Rose Chafer 

Asparagus Beetle and Rose Chafer are both chewing insects, 
and are controlled best by arsenite of zinc. This is best applied 
in a fungicide (use one and one-half to two pounds in fifty 
gallons), but never must be used on cutting beds, as it is a 
deadly poison. If necessary to combat the insects on cutting 
beds, hellebore may be used if given a week on the plants in 
which to lose its strength, before the plants are sold. 

Rust. Use diluted lime-sulphur solution or self-boiled 
lime-sulphur; make either only three-fourths as strong as for 
spraying apple. 

[Note. — Owing to the spindly nature of asparagus, effective spraying 
is very hard. This must be fully realized and efforts made in proportion, 
or results will be only partially successful.] 

CHERRY 

Sucking Insects Chewing Insects Fungous Diseases 

San Jos6 Scale Tent Caterpillar Brown Rot 

plant Lice Canker Worms Leaf Spot 
Curculio 

San Jose Scale. Treat exactly the same as you do on apple. 

Plant Lice. Spray when they appear with weak solution of 
soap or oil. 

Tent Caterpillar. Arsenate of lead as directed for same 
trouble on apple. 

Canker Worm. Arsenate of lead when worms appear. 

Curculio. Arsenate of lead after bloom is down, and repeat 
in two weeks. 

Brown Rot. Use diluted lime-sulphur solution with arsenate 
of lead, or self-boiled lime-sulphur with arsenate of lead. First 
spraying must be while leaves are unfolding. A second and 
third spraying should follow at intervals of two or three weeks. 

Leaf Spot, etc., will be covered by spraying for brown rot. 

[Note. — Arsenate of lead must not be used within a month of ripening 
time, owing to danger of poisoning those who eat the fruit. Use hellebore 
if poisons are needed later than this.] 

CURRANT AND GOOSEBERRY 

These fruits are subject to attacks from a few of the same 
enemies that attack fruit trees, and the remedies are the same 
in each case, both in material and time to apply. Use combi- 
nations of lime-sulphur in proper form, with arsenate of lead, 
or soap or miscible oil solutions in their places. 

86 



SPRAYING MAITERIALS AND DATES 

GRAPE 

Sucking Insects Chewing Insects Fungous Diseases 

Leaf Hopper Blue Beetle Black Rot 

Berry Moth Anthracnose 

Curculio Mildews 
Roootworm 

Leaf Hopper. Must be sprayed before young can fly, with 

solutions of soap or oil. 

Blue Beetle, Berry Moth Larva, Rootworm, and Curculio 
Larva are chewing insects, and are controlled by arsenate of 
lead. First spraying for them should be before blossoms 
come; second spraying after fruit sets, and third in July. Com- 
bine the lead with a fungicide whenever possible. 

Black Rot. Attacks leaves first, then berries. Bordeaux 
Mixture is the most effective remedy in most cases. Lime-sul- 
phur in proper form, combined with arsenate of lead, should be 
used oftener than it has been in the past. Spray first when 
buds begin to open; second, just after new shoots appear, before 
blossoms open; third and additional spraying should take 
place every ten days or two weeks until five or six applications 
have been made. If the disease shows near ripening time, use 
ammoniacal copper carbonate, because it will not russet the fruit. 

Anthracnose. Difficult to control. Spraying material and 
dates correspond to those for Black Rot, except that the work 
should be done even more thoroughly. 

Mildews. Materials and dates for spraying the same as 
for Black Rot. Two or three sprayings will control mildews; 
first one before blossoms open; second, after fruit has set; and 
third, ten to fourteen days later. 

PEAR 

The sucking insects, the chewing insects and the fungous 
diseases which attack pear are practically the same as those 
that attack apple, and are controlled by the same treatment. 
Pear, therefore, need to be sprayed while dormant with con- 
centrated lime-sulphur for controlling scales, when buds open 
and when blossoms open with combined insecticide and fungi- 
cide, and later, sometimes, with Bordeaux for rot. Pear foliage 
is tough, and will s.tand strong sprays. 

PEACH 

Sucking Insects Chewinglnsects Fungous Diseases 

San Jos6 Scale Curculio Leaf Curl 

Lecanium Scale Scab 

Aphis Brown Rot 

San Jose Scale. Kill by spraying in dormant period with 
concentrated lime-sulphur solution. Hold in check during 
summer with self-boiled lime-sulphur or diluted lime-sulphur 
solution to which is added arsenate of lead. 

[Note. — Peach foliage is more tender than apple. All foliage sprays for 
peach should be only from one-half to three-fourths as strong as for the 
corresponding trouble on apple. This is very important, and must not be 
overlooked.] 

87 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

Lecanlum Scale. Use miscible oil in spring, just before 
buds open. Caution is necessary in the use of oils on peach. 
They will burn foliage badly if the least bit too strong. 

Aphis. Use soap solution when noticed. 

Curculio. Appears about the time blossom shucks are 
shedding. Spray with arsenate of lead in some combination, 
and again in four or five weeks if there seems to be need of it. 

[Note. — Peach foliage is tender, and the arsenate of lead must be 
weaker than for apple spraying. Using one and one-half pounds of paste 
to fifty gallons of other mixture.) 

Leaf Curl. Is controlled by dormant lime-sulphur spray, ap- 
plied just before buds begin to swell. This is the same treat- 
ment given San Jose Scale in spring. 

Scab. Self-boiled lime-sulphur and arsenate of lead, applied 
about two weeks after the blossom shucks go down, and again 
two weeks after that. 

Brown Rot. Controlled by the treatment given for scab. 
May require an earlier and a later spraying with a fungicide. 
Be sure to cover the twigs and fruit all over, especially with 
the later sprayings, 

PLUM 

The principal enemies of plum are the same as those of peach, 
and must be treated the same for successful control. Plum 
foliage is more tender than apple foliage, but not quite so tender 
as peach, and the benefit of slightly stronger spray material 
than peach will stand can be utilized if needed. 

QUINCE 

Quince enemies, with treatment for them, are exactly the 
same as for apple or cherry. The foliage is relatively tough, 
and the enemies are easily overcome by the proper measures. 
Quince will be attacked more than apple, however, if not 
sprayed, therefore we can say that spraying is more important 
with quince than with apple or pear. 

STRAWBERRY, RASPBERRY, TOMATO AND OTHER 
SMALL FRUITS 

Many of the enemies that attack the large fruits also attack 
these. Rusts and blights, however, are especially bad on some 
small-fruit foliage and canes. For control of these there is 
nothing better than self-boiled lime-sulphur. If chewing insects 
are present, as they nearly always are to some exttiit, the 
addition of arsenate of lead to the fungicide will kill them. The 
time of application of the fungicide is just before leaves come 
out, and again when leaves are half-grown. A third applica- 
tion can be made when canes are six inches high, but none must 
ever go on mature canes of raspberry and blackberry, particu- 
larly. The time to apply poison for insects is when_ they are 
first noticed, or about the time petals fall, and again in two 
or three weeks. On tomatoes, lime-sulphur may be sprayed on 

88 



FORMULAS FOR SPRAYING MIXTURES 

the fruit from the time it has set until six weeks later, if needed 
for anthracnose. 

OUTSIDE INFECTION 

Spray brush, trees and plants of all kinds near your fruit 
trees. Only by doing this can you completely protect the fruit 
and trees from enemies. Ornamentals, windbreaks and hedges 
often are nurseries for large crops of insects and fungi. Make it 
a rule to remove useless trees about an orchard, and spray all 
that remain with a combined fungicide and poison a couple 
of times each season. The best times will likely be, for the first 
spraying while dormant; second, when leaves are half-grown. 
Cut down all red cedar trees, anyhow. 

FORMULAS 

Here follow directions for making every kind of spray 
material that will be needed. The process of making them re- 
quires some equipment, knowledge and skill. Where large 
amounts are to be used, and where the pure materials can be 
bought at wholesale prices, it is undoubtedly cheaper to mix 
the chemicals at home than to buy prepared mixtures. 

If you know how to boil or otherwise combine the chemicals 
so they shall make a mixture of just the right strength, and how 
to dilute properly for each condition or enemy, you are safe 
in making your own spraying materials. But if you do not 
know of these things, if there is a doubt in your mind about 
any of the amounts, or of the processes of manufacture, better 
by far buy a well-known brand of commercial spray material. 
A great many orchardists who know how to mix the elements 
prefer to buy their sprays ready-made because of the greater 
certainty of getting pure materials and correct, uniform manu- 
facture and strength. 

The "strength" of many spraying mixtures and solutions 
depends so often more on the mixing process than on the amounts 
of the different materials used that skill in the manufacturing 
process may mean many dollars to the user. The way the 
various chemicals combine, the bi-products formed and changes 
made by their combining, the temperatures at which they are 
mixed and tested, all have much influence on the final product. 
We cannot insist too strongly on good spraying mixtures. 

FUNGICIDES 

I. Self-boiled Lime-Sulphur. Eight pounds of fresh lump 
lime (quicklime), eight pounds of sulphur (flour, flowers, or 
powder), water 50 gallons. 

Put the lime in a vessel and pour on enough water to cover 
it. Add the sulphur, either finely sifted or made into a thick 
paste with water, as soon as the lime begins to slake and boil. 
Different limes vary in heat-producing power. Good stone 

89 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

lime gets very hot at once; partly slaked or slow lime will not 
heat up so quickly nor so much. 

Ordinarily the mixture should boil about ten minutes; care 
must be taken lest the boiling goes too far. During this time 
the mixture should be stirred constantly. At the end of the 
ten minutes, or as soon as all the lime is slaked, add cold water 
to the mixture and stop further boiling. If the mixture is al- 
lowed to remain hot ten or fifteen minutes after slaking is 
completed, the sulphur will combine with the lime and form 
sulphides which will burn foliage, particularly peach leaves. 

This solution can be left standing for a year, if desired, or 
is ready to use at once. To the mixture, made as directed here, 
add enough water to make fifty gallons; then strain, so it will 
work through pumps and nozzles, and apply. 

Self-boiled lime-sulphur is one of the best mixtures we have 
for scab, rust, some rots and many similar enemies. It is very 
effective as a summer spray to hold the scales in check until 
they can be cleaned up with the stronger fall and spring spray. 
It forms one of the best bases to which poison can be added for 
killing chewing insects. 

2. Dilute Lime-Sulphur Solution. |The regular concentrated 
lime-sulphur (stock solution) mixture (formula 7), either home- 
boiled or commercial, can be diluted in proportions of one and 
one-half gallons of mixture to fifty gallons of water, and to this 
two pounds of arsenate of lead added, to be used in place of the 
self-boiled lime-sulphur. Some authorities recommend a hydrom- 
eter to test the specific gravity of the lime-sulphur mixture, 
but this test is unreliable and misleading unless all conditions 
are just right. This solution (for foliage spraying) should test 
1.1015 to 1. 01 specific gravity. Never neglect to include the lead 
when diluting the No. 7 solution for summer work. Lead is 
needed in the mixture to prevent burning foliage. 

3. Dilute Lime-Sulphur Solution. Commercial or home- 
boiled concentrated lime-sulphur solution, (7), still more 
dilute, with about one gallon mixture in fifty to sixty gallons 
of water, and with the lead added, is useful on the tenderest 
kinds of foliage, which the stronger solutions will burn. The 
proper strength of this mixture (home-boiled) will test 1.005 
specific gravity. 

[Note. — Hydrometer tests of commercial solutions are not to be de- 
pended on. Follow directions given by the makers to get proper strength.] 

4. Bordeaux Mixture. There are three strengths of Bor- 
deaux Mixture, called standard Bordeaux, weak Bordeaux and 
strong Bordeaux. Standard Bordeaux contains three pounds 
of copper-sulfate (blue vitriol or bluestone), four pounds of 
fresh stone lime (quicklime), and fifty gallons of water. Weak 
Bordeaux Mixture contains one and one-half pounds of copper- 
sulfate, three pounds of lime and fifty gallons of water. Strong 
Bordeaux contains five pounds copper-sulfate, five pounds of 
lime and fifty gallons of water. 

Put the copper-sulfate into a burlap bag; to dissolve it, hang 
this overnight just beneath the surface of a vessel half full of 
water. It also may be dissolved in boiling water, using at least 

90 



FORMULAS FOR SPRAYING MIXTURES 

a quart of water to the pound of bluestone. Slake the lime in 
enough water to prevent it from burning. When you have a 
smooth milk of lime, add enough water to make twenty-five 
gallons. Do the same with the few gallons of copper-sulphur 
solution, and pour the diluted solutions together. The solu- 
tions never must be mixed with concentrated, although diluting 
one before joining them will avoid the trouble caused, if care 
is taken to keep the proportions right. 

Air-slaked lime should not be used in making Bordeaux 
Mixture. It is best to slake lime and keep it in the form of 
paste or putty. In this condition it can be kept indefinitely if 
covered with an inch or two of water. Use three times as much 
of this lime paste, by weight, as of fresh stone lime. A good 
plan is to cover the bottom of a flat trough a couple of inches 
deep with lime and work this into a putty. You can calculate 
how much of this you need to make the proper proportions, and 
then take a brick of the required size from the trough, as needed. 
The lime also can be dissolved in water and kept — one pound 
of lime to a gallon of water. Add water to replace evaporation. 

The copper-sulphate can be dissolved in the same way — one 
pound to the gallon — and kept until spraying time. To make 
the spraying mixture, in any strength desired, simply use one 
gallon of each of these solutions instead of a pound of the 
respective materials. But always dilute before putting the 
stock solutions together. After it is made, Bordeaux will not 
keep for any length of time. No more should be mixed than 
will be used each day. If stock solutions are prepared, Bor- 
deaux can be mixed on short notice. With good lime there will 
be no danger of burning the foliage at the strengths given here 
when this Bordeaux is used on the different kinds of trees ac- 
cording to directions. 

Should there be any doubt, you can test the strength, or 
rather test for free acid, by holding a clean, bright knife-blade 
in the Bordeaux mixture for about a minute. If the blade 
becomes coated with copper, more lime must be added. Another 
test is to pour a small quantity of the Bordeaux into a vessel 
and blow your breath on it. If it is made properly a thin white 
film (of calcium carbonate) will form on the surface. If the 
breath will not produce this, add more lime. 

5. Ammonlacal Copper Carbonate. Five ounces of copper 
carbonate, three pints of ammonia which tests 26° Baume, 
fifty gallons of water. 

Dilute the ammonia with five or six quarts of water. Make 
a paste, with water, of the copper carbonate. Pour the am- 
monia solution over the paste, using just enough to dissolve 
it. Do not use more than is needed for this, but, if any carbonate 
remains undissolved after standing a few minutes, add a little 
more of the ammonia solution. This mixture may be kept without 
spoiling. For the working solution add water to make fifty 
gallons. This is clear blue mixture that will not stain ripe fruit. 
It should either be sprayed on before picking or the fruit dipped 
in it as soon as picked, then rushed into storage. It can be used 
where Bordeaux will russet fruit. 

91 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRIUIT 



INSECTICIDES FOR CHEWING INSECTS 

6. Arsenate of Lead. This poison can be bought in the form 
of a stiff, white paste, ready to use by diluting one to three 
pounds of this paste with fifty gallons of water. The paste 
usually comes in kegs or cans, and nearly every one will find it 
the best form to buy. Care must be taken that this paste does 
not dry out. It will not do this if the surface is kept covered 
with an inch or two of water. 

The home-mixed poison is made as follows, but, though 
it is possible to make it cost a little less than the commercial 
paste, home manufacture is seldom advisable. Four ounces of 
arsenate of soda, eleven ounces of acetate of lead and eighteen 
gallons of water are the materials. Dissolve the arsenate of 
soda in two quarts of water, in a wooden vessel. Then dissolve 
the acetate of lead in four quarts of water in another wooden 
vessel, and when this process is finished pour the two solutions 
into the required amount of water in the spraying tank. 

This spray will be milk-white. It is the most efficient remedy 
for chewing insects, and it may be added to the lime-sulphur, 
Bordeaux or other spray. In doing this, if you have dissolved 
the foregoing amounts in the six quarts of water, add them 
separately to fifteen gallons of the other mixture — larger and 
smaller amounts in the same proportion; or, mix two pounds of 
the commercial paste in fifty gallons. 

INSECTICIDES FOR SUCKING INSECTS 

7. Standard Lime-Sulphur Mixture. Lime-sulphur mixtures 
are made and sold by chemical companies. When prepared by 
reliable people, they are recommended, and will give the very 
best of satisfaction. Directions for diluting and using each will 
accompany the solution. Generally about one gallon of the 
concentrated commercial solution to eight gallons of water will 
be what is required for a dormant spray. As noted before, there 
are great differences in the value of different lime-sulphur 
solutions that are due to differences in process of manufacture, 
and not to varying amounts of lime or of sulphur. It is a chemi- 
cal composition of the final product, a chemical fusing of the 
elements, that makes the differences more than anything 
else. If you haven't many trees, it is always cheaper and 
less bother to buy prepared lime-sulphur, and many times 
it is so with large orchards to spray. Unless you prepare 
your own solution very carefully, you will not have nearly 
so good material as that you can buy. 

For the home-boiled solution, use fifteen pounds of fresh 
stone lime, fifteen pounds of sulphur and fifty gallons of water. 
Slake the lime in an iron kettle in which the mixture is to be 
boiled, using enough water to cover the lime. (Don't use copper 
kettle.) Better make a paste of the sulphur before you put it 
in, or at least sift it thoroughly. Stir while adding the sulphur, 
which should go in while the lime is slaking, then add ten or 

92 



FORMULAS FOR SPRAYING MIXTURES 

fifteen gallons of water and boil this mixture for about an hour, 
or until the mixture becomes a deep orange-red or a deep green. 
It may take on either of these colors; lime never seems to act 
twice alike in this respect. Add enough water to bring the 
volume of the mixture up to fifty gallons and it is ready to use. 
This solution should test about 1.04 specific gravity. 

Both the commeixial and the home-made mixture, at the 
strength directed here, are to be used only on dormant trees, 
and must not be used on foliage. At this strength it will burn 
nearly all the leaves off if it is applied after the buds open, but 
it is no stronger than needed for winter work. Properly diluted 
and with arsenate of lead added, lime-sulphur is a most valuable 
summer spray. See formulas Numbers i, 2 and 3 (self-boiled 
lime-sulphur and diluted lime-sulphur solutions must be added 
to prevent burning foliage). 

8. Kerosene Emulsion. Make a stock solution with one-half 
pound of hard soap, one gallon of hot water (soft) and two 
gallons of kerosene. Chip the soap fine and dissolve it in hot 
water. Take the vessel away from the stove and from any fire 
and add the kerosene while the water is still boiling hot. Im- 
mediately churn this thoroughly, or better, pump it violently 
back into the vessel until it forms a creamy emulsion. When 
only a small quantity of the spray is wanted, sour milk can be 
substituted for soap and water. 

For various purposes you must have various strengths of 
kerosene emulsion. To dilute for an eight per cent solution, use 
one gallon of this concentrated mixture in seven gallons of water; 
to make a ten per cent emulsion, use one gallon with five gallons 
of water; to make a four per cent emulsion, use one gallon with 
fifteen gallons of water. The four per cent emulsion can be 
used without damage on the tenderest foliage, while the ten 
per cent emulsion will do good work when trees are dormant. 

9. Soluble or Miscible Oils. Chemical manufacturers 
prepare brands of oil so treated that they fuse readily with 
cold water. They make efficient and useful sprays, but must 
be used with caution. When they are too strong, they cause 
serious injury to plants or trees. In winter, for San Jose Scale, 
they do excellent work; and in summer, for various enemies 
requiring a spray of this character, they are many times ad- 
visable. It is best to get information about the strength at 
which to spray from the maker of the oil you use, but for the 
winter spray a strength of one part oil in fifteen parts water 
almost always will be right. 

10. Soap Solutions. These make a valuable spray for hold- 
ing in check San Jose and other scales during the summer, and 
for various other sucking insects. One pound of hard soap in 
four gallons of water, or one pound of whale oil soap in five gal- 
lons of water, is the right strength for dormant trees. In any 
case, dissolve the soap in about one gallon of hot, soft water, then 
add the remainder of water cold, stirring hard. 

11. Tobacco. Can be obtained in several forms — as a 
liquid, a powder, or in stems, to be used according to conditons. 
The essential poison of tobacco (sulphate of nicotine) is ex- 

93 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

tracted and appears on the market in several forms. "Black 
Leaf," "Nicofume," and "Tobacine," can be bought and made 
into sprays for orchard insects, such as woolly aphis, green aphis, 
and some of the other bugs which have to be killed by contact. 
The sulphate of nicotine can be bought pure and mixed into 
spray material, also. A tobacco decoction can be made by 
steeping one pound of tobacco leaves or stems in two gallons 
of water for a few days; or by boiling a quantity of tobacco 
about one-half hour in enough water to cover it, then dilute 
with water to make a volume of two gallons for each pound of 
tobacco used. 

COMBINED INSECTICIDES AND FUNGICIDES 

12. Bordeaux Mixture and Arsenate of Lead. Mix two 

pounds of arsenate of lead with fifty gallons standard Bordeaux 
Mixture. First dissolve the arsenate as directed before. The 
sticky qualities of this new mixture will keep the Bordeaux 
on the tree longer than it would remain otherwise. This is 
a very good spray and does not cost much. 

13. Lime-sulphur and Arsenate of Lead. Mix two pounds 
of arsenate of lead with fifty gallons of self-boiled lime-sulphur 
or of concentrated lime-sulphur solution diluted, one and a half 
gallons to fifty gallons of water (arsenate of lead always must 
be added to diluted standard lime-sulphur solutions). 

RABBITS. MICE AND BORERS 

Borers attack nearly all kinds of fruit trees, but do most 
damage to apple and peach trees. They fairly revel in locust 
and many other forest trees, and some kinds of bushes harbor 
them. There are three or more kinds. One has a flat, black 
head; another a round, black head. These two work in apple 
trees. They are supposed to live on the inner layer of bark of 
the trunk, near the surface of the ground, but their tunnels 
sometimes extend entirely through the tree and for more than 
a foot up and down. 

Peach borers are soft, yellowish worms with a reddish brown 
head. They do not usually go so deep into the wood as do apple 
borers, but live just under the bark. Either kind can be located 
by the sawdust made, and in peach, etc., by gum, which 
comes from the hole where borers entered. Peach borers 
hatch in June or July from eggs laid on the trunks of trees. 
The young either eat their way in where tney were hatched, 
or drop to the ground and enter the trunk at the surface of 
the soil. This kind stays in the trunk one year only, but the 
other two kinds will remain in from one to three years, growing 
bigger and eating larger tunnels all the time. 

Go over all your trees, but particularly those younger than 
eight years, every March and October. You can locate the 
borers by their sawdust, by a blackened spot in the bark, or 
by the gum coming from their holes. Cut around the hole 
a little with a sharp knife, and if you do not find the worms 

94 



FORMULAS FOR SPRAYING MIXTURES 

right away, run a wire up or down the hole and mash them. 
There will be from one to six in each infected tree. For many 
trees, equip yourself with a machine oiler, and inject carbon- 
bisulfide solution into the holes, then close them with grafting- 
wax or soft clay. 

To prevent borers from entering any kind of trees, apply 
to the trunks, about the middle of June, the Whale Oil Soap 
solution. No. i8, or Lime-Sulfur Solution, No. 15. Painting 
the lower eighteen inches of trunks with pure white lead and 
raw linseed oil will help, too. Apple borers, however, some- 
times enter three or four feet from the ground, but these worms 
never get very big. Salt and ashes, or tobacco dust, in a layer 
a couple of inches deep about the base of the tree, will kill the 
worms that drop off and try to reach the trunk. 

Mice girdle trees by gnawing the bark off under the snow 
(and sometimes during summer when grass grows or lies 
close to the trunk), particularly when there is a crust that stays 
on well into late winter. To prevent this damage, be sure to 
draw all weeds or mulch of any kind back at least a foot from 
the tree in August or September, and never allow any mulch 
or grass closer than six inches to the trunk. The earth in this 
open space should be heaped from three inches to a foot high 
about the tree. Mice will not cross this open space. Tramp- 
ing the snow about each tree before the mice begin working 
also is a good plan. 

Rabbits girdle trees above the snow, and usually do it late 
in the spring, after the snow has been on the ground a long 
time. Painting trunks with pure white lead and raw linseed 
oil, as for borers, helps to prevent both mice and rabbits from 
chewing the bark. Perfect protection is given by wooden 
veneers on the market, made especially for wrapping trunks 
of small trees. They cost about 75 cents a hundred. Strips 
of tar paper, of wire screen or of wire cloth, cut five inches wide 
and two feet long, then wrapped arour d a broom handle, so as 
to make long, open-sided tubes that will spring around the trunk 
are cheaper and very practical for this purpose. 

The Lime-Sulfur solution many times will turn rabbits 
away, and a mixture of blood and ashes will do this nearly 
every time. By all means hunt down the rabbits. The boys 
can set traps that will clean them out pretty well in one winter, 
and you can form the habit of having a gun with you as you 
work among your trees. You will be able to send many a 
bunny to the Happy Hunting Grounds with it, and besides, 
you will have lots of chances to shoot hawks, foxes and other 
pests. Bridge-graft trees that have been girdled or partly 
girdled. This operation can be done for twenty-five cents a 
tree, and any good orchard tree in normal condition is worth 
from $5 to $100. Cut whips of last year's growth and bevel 
the ends so they will lie flat against the bark when the middle 
is bowed out a little. Then slit the bark above and below the 
wound, as is done in budding, and slip these beveled ends 
in against the inner layer of bark. Cover this joint, and 
whole wound if possible, with grafting-wax. That is all there 

95 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

is to it. The tree will live and the bark will grow over the 
wounds. 

SUMMARY 

Spraying is a vital necessity if money is to be made from 
fruit. It doesn't pay to doubt this, and it doesn't pay to miss 
one season, even if enemies are not visible. 

Spraying has an invigorating effect on trees, besides con- 
trolling enemies. 

Knowledge of what to spray for, what mixtures to use and 
when to apply is a necessity before spraying can be made effec- 
tive. 

There are three classes of enemies spraying will control — 
chewing insects, sucking insects and fungi. Each class requires 
a different remedy, but the remedies can be combined most of 
the time. 

Spraying during the dormant period is distinctly different 
from spraying on foliage. Materials several times as strong 
can be used and are needed to control the scales. 

On account of life habits of enemies, often only two to four 
days are available for any one spraying and the work must be 
done then. 

Put the material on with force and cover every inch of bark 
and leaf. 

Get a sprayer that is big enough, that will give loo to 250 
pounds air-pressure, that is adapted to your land and trees, and 
that is durable. Get a power outfit, if possible, for it does 
better work than a hand pump can. 

The spraying program ordinarily resolves itself into two, 
three or four applications — one while trees are dormant, with 
lime-sulphur solution, and the others on blossoms and fruit 
with self -boiled lime-sulphur, or diluted lime-sulphur, with 
arsenate of lead added, or maybe with bordeaux and lead. 
All applications must be guided by careful study. 

The differences in spraying mixtures is one of chemical 
combining of the materials, as well as of differences in quantity 
of each material used. Be sure you get the right mixture. 

Borers will attack fruit trees in spite of all we can do and 
will kill many trees if left alone. 

Trees must be gone over once each year, and should be gone 
over each April and August. 

Spraying and painting with lime-sulphur sediment will help 
in keeping down the numbers of borers. 

Keep trash and mulches at least six inches away from tree 
trunks, and tramp snow about trees in late winter, to prevent 
mice damage. 

Always bridge-graft trees that have been girdled. 



96 



Miscellaneous 

ORCHARD RECORDS 

When you set out an orchard always make a chart of the 
arrangement, giving a place and a number to each tree, then 
record the numbers, variety and other data in a book. If you 
fail to do this, you will know how good a forgetter you are when 
you try to remember where you planted each kind. The in- 
formation will be useful in a dozen ways. Take our word that 
it is worth while, and keep the records accurately and completely. 

To label each tree helps this plan and has other advantages. 
One of the best ways is to cut heavy zinc into strips about ten 
inches long, two inches wide at one end and coming to a point 
at the other. Put these in vinegar for a few hours to corrode 
them; when dry you can write on them with ink or with an 
ordinary indelible lead pencil and the marks will stay on for 
twenty years. Twist the little end of the tag loosely about a 
limb, and let it hang down. Put on this tag the variety name, 
the number, possibly the date planted, the number of bushels 
harvested each year, date of blooming, and other useful data. 
As the limb grows, loosen the loop a little, or remove the tag 
to a smaller limb. This helps greatly in the successful handling 
of an orchard. 

CLIMBING CUTWORMS 

Those little pests live in the soil and crawl up young trees 
at night. They destroy the tender buds. The remedy is to 
put a wrapping of cotton around the trunk of the tree a foot 
or so from the ground; or better, build a "fence" of tarred 
paper about the base of the tree. This should be about six 
inches high, and should go an inch into the ground. Poisoned 
bran mush at the base of trees is effective also. 

GRAFTING 

Trees which have proved untrue to name or of worthless 
varieties should be top-worked with desirable kinds. This is 
done by grafting eighteen or twenty scions on suitable limbs, 
just as the bark first loosens in the spring. Be sure that the 
cuttings you use come from the best trees of the best kinds. 
Wild trees and seedlings about farms can be grafted likewise, 
as can those good kinds which require cross-pollination. Use 
good grafting wax, cut scions carefully, and put them in right, 
and grafts will grow. 

Bridge-grafting is explained in the talk on mice damage. 
It has other uses, as with a tree which has been skinned badly 
from any cause, a bad split that cannot be repaired by bolting, 
etc. Try to get at least five or six of the bridges to growing. 
Cover with grafting-wax the places of insertion and at least 
the raw edges of bark. It is well to cover the whole surface 
bared if you can get enough wax. 

97 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 



SPLIT FORKS 

Should a tree split, draw the sections together with a rope 
and pulleys, bore a hole through them and bolt them together. 
This can be done by using one long bolt, or by using two short 
ones with rings for heads, and connecting them with a wire 
or chain. Some growers do not bore holes, but use screws 
with ring heads. We have seen trees that had a complete 
system of such supports, all the wires (from each limb) coming 
together in the center of the head, on a strong ring. Do not 
put a wire or chain around the limbs. It is possible to connect 
two cross- growing limbs, or one leading toward an opposite 
fork, so they will unite and form a natural brace, 

WINDBREAKS FOR ORCHARDS 

A windbreak will protect fruit trees from cold. In case of 
late spring frost this is done by deflecting up over the trees 
the downward flowing frosty air. The windbreak must not 
be thick enough to produce a dead air space in its lee, as such 
a condition will cause frosted blossoms every time. The break 
must let some of the air through to keep up the motion through 
the orchard. 

With the more tender trees like peaches and plums, a wind- 
break is of the greatest value, protecting the tender twigs and 
buds from the most penetrating cold in times of high wind in 
midwinter. In the summer and fall, half the fruit on heavily 
loaded trees sometimes will be blown off if not protected by 
a windbreak; but if protected the normal number of drops 
will be diminished by at least half, while the damage from 
storms will be largely eliminated. 

Spraying and picking in unprotected orchards often have 
to be stopped on windy days. Here a windbreak would enable 
the operators to put the liquid where it is needed or enable 
pickers to go ahead with their work. A windbreak will retain 
snow and leaves and so prevent deep frosting and excessive 
soil evaporation; will lessen breaking of trees and twigs under 
loads of ice; will enable trees to grow straighter; will protect 
blossoms from severe winds and so help pollination; and in 
some cases will hasten the ripening of fruit. 

Windbreaks will harbor insects to a certain extent, but not 
if they are sprayed. If they are not planted far enough from 
the outside rows of fruit trees they will rob them of plant food. 
Plant the break at least forty feet from the nearest fruit trees. 
Some advise that eighty or one hundred feet be left here, and 
claim that the space will be well used. 

Norway spruce, Scotch and Austrian pines and the arbor- 
vitae make the best evergreen windbreak. California privet, 
Lombardy poplars and maples made good deciduous windbreaks. 
In some places it is desirable to have the break thick from the 
ground up; in others it should be open at the bottom, and 
thicker on a level with the foliage of the fruit trees. 

98 




The universal method of packing peaches for shipment, in the East, 






Orapes miy be staked the first 


three years. 


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are better 




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Kind of cherries that bring profits. Picture slightly reduced. 

99 




A home bed of strawberries adds wonderfully to home's attractions in June. 




Glimpse of a commercial vineyard of 300 acres. Note cultivation, training, etc. 




How to train grape-vines, at a home. Note bagging in upper right-hand corner. 




A fine quince tree. Note method of training, perfect foliage and crop of fruit. 

100 



MISCELLANEOUS ORCHARD NEEDS 

The lay of your land will tell you where to plant the break, 
and will determine its value. There are few orchards in which 
a break will not benefit the fruit and trees, besides enhancing 
the beauty of the place. 

WHEN TREES WILL NOT BEAR 

Here and there throughout the country are many fruit 
trees of bearing age which never have produced a single fruit, 
or at most a few imperfect ones. Everything that has been 
said about the well-being of fruit trees is an answer to the ques- 
tion, "How can we make these trees bear?" 

First look to the condition of the soil. It may lack moisture, 
or may be too wet. There may be rock or hard-pan close to 
the surface, preventing root expansion. The soil may lack 
some or all the plant-food elements, may lack dead vegetable 
matter, friendly bacteria, or require a general loosening up 
to a depth of four or five feet. 

Explode a charge of dynamite under each tree, and three 
or four others a few feet away. Mulch the surface with a thick 
covering of vegetable matter, or by keeping a couple inches 
of dust under the tree. Feed with commercial fertilizer. 

The tree may be growing too fast. In that case reduce the 
amount of nitrogen. It may be necessary also to reduce the 
amount of moisture, but this should be avoided, unless there 
is a decided excess of water, which should be drained away. 

Your trees may lack cross-pollination. This is a frequent 
cause of non-bearing. The remedy is to plant other kinds 
near-by (see planting section), or top- work bearing trees with 
one or two branches of other kinds, and the blossoms on these 
will fertilize those on the rest of the tree. See that trees harbor 
no scale nor other enemies. 

Girdling sometimes is resorted to with success, as is also 
notching deeply below fruit spurs. The method of girdling 
is to press a heavy knife into the bark, making in this way a 
cut entirely around the tree. This will not kill the tree. Other 
practices are to take an eighteen-inch strip of bark from the 
trunk a third or a fourth of the way around the tree; to twist 
a wire tightly around the main limb or around the trunk; 
or to prune the roots. This last is done by plowing deeply or 
digging a ditch partly around the tree. More trees fail to 
bear from lacking roots than from having too many roots. 

These methods, although sometimes to be advised, seldom 
are used by practised orchardists. It is much better to produce 
bearing by handling the soil, supplying proper food, and by 
proper cutting back. Bearing can be forced just as surely by 
these methods, and at the same time the trees will receive 
what they need in other ways. The good effects will thus be 
permanent, instead of lasting only two or three years. In gen- 
eral, winter or spring pruning is conducive to growth, while 
summer pruning leads to bearing. If a tree has not been kept 
pruned, shaping the head and cutting back will aid in making 
it bear. 

zox 



Special Things Needed by Each Fruit 

THE foregoing part of this book explains those fundamental 
things which all trees require. Here following are details 
of the few special needs in which fruits differ. Do not 
attempt to be guided only by what is said here, in caring for 
your orchard, but go back through the soil-handling, planting, 
pruning and spraying chapters, and apply the suggestions given 
there in connection with what you get here. 

APPLE 

Almost any soil will do for apples, but they succeed best on 
clay loam. The subsoil should be no closer than four feet, if 
you can get a soil of this kind. Many fine orchards, however, 
are growing on land where the hard-pan is only eighteen or 
twenty inches from the surface. Put your trees in the best land 
you can get, but plant anyhow if your best land is not the most 
favorable. A slope is better than a level, and the finest apples 
always grow on high land. Read the chapters on Frost, on Mois- 
ture Keeping and on Cultivation. In them you will find much 
information about the best location for apples. 

In all sections north of Delaware and Kentucky, spring 
planting is best; but fall planting is successful, especially in the 
South, if it is done at the right time. Trees for fall planting 
should be ripened early in the nursery, and then planted at 
once (there is only a week or two in the fall when planting 
should be done), so they will grow a little before winter comes. 
This is to give the roots a chance to get moisture with which to 
replace winter evaporation, and to develop new roots during 
winter. But in the North, under average conditions, the losses 
of fall-planted trees will exceed those of trees planted in the 
spring. Proper spring planting is always successful when done 
early enough. It is better to get the trees during November 
and December, heel them in, covering tops and all with dirt, 
and then plant them the first day the ground is thawed. Heap 
up dirt about trees twelve inches or more when planted very 
early. 

One-year trees almost always are best. There are many 
reasons, but two are enough to prove this. One-year trees can 
be pruned and headed the way you want them. This training 
they are not likely to get in the nursery during the second 
year, and that is the time when it must be done. And one- 
year trees will be larger at the end of four years than will either 
two- or three-year nursery trees planted in the orchard at the 
same time. 

Before you plant, read again all the entire matter on sub- 
soiling and planting. Dig tree holes with dynamite, if possible. 
This produces great results. Watch your trees carefully for the 
first two years and prune them three times each season during 
this time. Take especial pains to guard against mice and rab- 
bits. Bridge-graft any trees that have been girdled. Never 

103 



SPECIAL THINGS NEEDED BY FRUITS 

let three-year-old trees bear more than twenty apples, four-year- 
old trees more than fifty, or five-year-old more than one hundred. 
After five years, thin at the regular rate. 

Pay attention to securing pollination of your apples. A 
few varieties may have the power of fertilizing their own blos- 
soms, but the larger number of kinds do not. Baldwin generally 
is known as a kind that needs little outside help, yet in many 
experiments where the bees and winds were prevented from 
carrying pollen from other trees, a thousand Baldwin blossoms 
would set only a half-dozen gnarly little apples. 

By far the greatest trouble due to insufficient pollination 
is not in the total failure to set fruit, but in the production of 
knotty and crooked fruit. Freezing will cause apples to grow 
crooked, but, in nine cases out of ten, they grow that way be- 
cause the blossoms, while fertilized enough to start the fruit, 
were not fertilized enough to give it vigor and vitality. The 
individual fruits were cripples from the beginning. Therefore, 
provide plenty of chances for cross-fertilizing in your orchards, 
and do not depend upon trees of the same variety fertilizing each 
other. See that each tree in the orchard has three or more 
trees of one or more other kinds within a hundred and fifty 
feet. 

Care must be taken, also, to see that the different kinds in 
the same section of the orchard bloom at the same time. We 
know of one big orchard in which there are only two varieties. 
One is through blooming before the other begins, so no benefit 
is derived from having the two kinds together. 

Two classes are enough into which to divide varieties accord- 
ing to blooming habits. In both the early and late classes the 
varieties will overlap each other sufiiciently. But an early 
bloomer and a late one could not help one another. Gideon, 
Gravenstein, Early Ripe, Smokehouse, Stark, Arkansas Black, 
Benoni, Chenango, Mcintosh, Maiden's Blush, Duchess, 
M. B. Twig, Baldwin, King, Fallawater and others bloom early. 
Wagner, Yellow Transparent, Spitzenburg, the Greenings, 
Stayman's Winesap, Winesap, Gano, Williams' Early Red, 
York Imperial, Rome Beauty, Ben Davis, Hubbardston, Jona- 
than, Spy, Wealthy, Delicious, Missouri Pippin, etc., bloom 
comparatively late. 

These statements are based on observations in New York. 
They might not be entirely correct in other localities. Watch 
the trees in your neighborhood and make notes of when they 
bloom. If you find your bearing orchard is suffering from a 
lack of cross pollenization, start at once and top-work some of 
the trees with other good varieties. In about three years you 
can expect blossoms on these grafts or buds. When you plant 
now, see that this trouble is avoided. 

As to varieties — it depends on the elevation, the latitude, 
the climate generally, the time of ripening desired, and the 
purpose for which apples are wanted. Still the list is not very 
large. Probably twenty-five varieties cover the good ones for 
all conditions found between Florida and Ontario. 

In the Piedmont and Blue Ridge sections and the Delaware 

X03 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

Peninsula, Winesap, Stayman's Winesap, Yellow Transparent, 
Williams' Early Red, Grimes Golden, York Imperial, Rome 
Beauty, Wealthy, Red Astrachan and Yellow Newton are the 
kinds to plant. The first five of these are the cream of the list 
for sections south of the Maryland line. In southern Pennsyl- 
vania, West Virginia and similar localities all these kinds do 
well, particularly Stay man, Rome Beauty and Grimes Golden; 
while Jonathan, Stark, Delicious, Wagner, Nero, Hubbardston, 
Mammoth Black Twig, and Duchess also reach perfection. 
York Imperial and Ben Davis do well, but should not be planted, 
because better kinds succeed as well. 

As we go north, and as elevations get higher, many of these 
varieties fall behind in size of fruit and thriftiness of tree. In 
northern Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York and similar localities, 
Stayman, M. B. Twig and Delicious are of even better quality 
than they are farther south, although they are .lOt quite so 
large. Duchess is finer here than anywhere else. Baldwin, 
Spitzenburg, the Greenings, Stark, Winter Banana, Rome 
Beauty, Spy, King and Mcintosh Red all succeed wonderfully 
here. Mcintosh, Hubbardston, Baldwin, Stayman, Duchess and 
the two Greenings do best at the higher elevations, while others 
thrive best at the lower elevation of this section. Northern New 
York, Michigan, Ontario and New England comprise another 
belt in which Baldwin, Mcintosh, Spitzenburg, Spy and Green- 
ings, Ingram, Stayman, Winter Banana, Duchess, Snow and 
King are best. 

We will not attempt to describe these varieties here. Har- 
rison's regular catalogue gives detailed descriptions. The varie- 
ties named ripen at all seasons and are adapted to various 
purposes. We simply have told you the names of those few 
kinds which we know are best for each section — kinds that are 
standard and reliable. You can depend on this list, but if you 
think of planting and are puzzled, write to us, giving full details, 
and we will take up the matter with you personally. 

The dangerous enemies of apples are as follows: 

Apple Rust (or Cedar Rust), from red cedar trees. This 
fungus does most of its damage in the Virginias. Destroy all 
cedar trees in the vicinity. Apple Scab, a fungus, shows its 
presence by greenish-brown spots which enlarge and run to- 
gether, forming good-sized blotches. These later turn black. 
On apples it makes scaly, blackish or cracked spots, and spoils 
them for use. 

Bitter Rot on fruit, and Canker on limbs, are due to fungi. 
The small brown sunken spots spread quickly and cause the 
whole apple to rot. Rotten spots are marked by rings, and 
taste very bitter. Collar Blight of apple, caused by bacteria, is 
almost the same as Fire Blight of pear, and should be treated 
in the same way. Crown Gall (bacteria) attacks young trees 
in the nursery. Its mark is a bunch of hairy roots, galls, knots 
or corky enlargements near the crown. Remove the trees 
affected. 

Leaf Blight, or Frog Eye, a fungus, shows spots on leaves 
that look like the eye or ear of a frog. The leaves turn brown 

104 



SPECIAL THINGS NEEDED BY FRUITS 

at these spots, and drop early. Fire Blight (known as Pear Blight 
or Twig Blight) is caused by bacteria. It begins at the end 
buds on new wood, and literally walks down over the limbs. 
Leaves die and hang on all summer. Sooty Blotch appears 
as a smoky black deposit on nearly ripe fruit. 

The Aphides, or Plant Lice, are small, green, soft-bodied 
insects that live on young twigs and on the under sides of 
leaves. They are sucking insects, and by boring into the stems 
cause the leaves to die. Leaf Hoppers are handsome little 
yellow and red bugs that suck the juice out of leaves; aphides 
treatment kills them. Oyster Shell Scale is so called because 
the covering over the eggs of these sucking insects resembles 
that shell in shape and color; there are two broods a season. 
Badly infected trees look rough and sickly. 

San Jose Scale is a sucking insect. You can see it in winter 
as a round, dark gray or black spot, the size of a fly speck, with 
a spot or nipple at the center. When trees are infected badly, 
a rough, scaly crust comes off when diseased twigs and bark 
are rubbed. On fruit the spots are surrounded by a reddish 
ring. The young, which begin to appear about the first of June, 
are lemon-yellow at first, but soon cover themselves with white 
scales and look like wood-ashes. 

Woolly Aphis are sucking insects which infest the whole 
tree, roots and all; they are covered with a mass of bluish-gray 
fibers, like bunches of cotton. Bud Moths, when young, are 
small, brown caterpillars with black heads, that chew the young 
leaves and buds, which they bind together in their webs. 
Canker Worms, or Measuring Worms, hatch from eggs about 
the time the buds burst, and fead on the foliage for about four 
weeks; they stay in the ground over winter and lay eggs on 
twigs in the spring. 

Curculios, as adult insects, appear in early spring and feed 
on young foliage. They feign death when disturbed. The 
eggs are laid in half-round cuts on the side of fruits. The young 
bugs tunnel around within apples, pears, quinces, etc. These 
are not the real apple worms, however, as those are the larvae of 
the Codlin Moth. That insect hatches two broods a season. 
The first eggs are laid on leaves or young fruit, then the worms 
enter fruit at the blossom end; the second brood appears about 
midsummer and enters the apple through the side. Control 
the first crop and the second will give little trouble. This is 
about the most destructive insect that attacks apples, but is 
controlled easily. 

After apple trees are cleaned up from accumulated damage 
resulting from neglect, two sprayings a season ordinarily will 
be enough to protect them. A third spraying, however, will 
almost invariably pay several times its cost, and sometimes is 
required for protection. 

PEAR 

Light or sandy soils are not so good for pears as heavy 
loams or clay. Pears stand more water than peaches or apples, 
too, but still should not have wet feet — a requirement that 

105 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

holds good generally in fruit-growing. Pears do especially 
well under the sod-mulch system of culture. Always avoid 
too much tillage, nitrogen and stable manure — give more potash 
and phosphoric acid. 

Try to get the trees to begin ripening wood and fruit earlier 
in season than apple trees. Grow good-sized trees in the first 
four or five years, by careful planting and fertilizing, then 
make them get down to bearing fruit as rapidly as possible, 
without much regard to more growth. On bearing trees cut 
back the tips of new wood in May or June, prune moderately 
in the spring, and thin the fruit. You will have no trouble in 
getting plenty of pears of high quality if you do this. 

Kieffer is the kind for commercial orchards on a large scale, 
because of the sure crop, the quantity yielded, and the ability 
of the fruit to stand handling. Bartlett is not far behind, 
however. It is a summer pear, of finer quality for eating fresh 
than Kieflfer, but it pays for this by being so mellow and tender 
that it will not stand so much handling. It should be picked 
a week before fully ripe. 

Anjou, Lawrence and Clapp's Favorite need no intro- 
duction to the majority of planters, and each is suited to a 
special condition, under which it is unexcelled. Anjou and 
Lawrence do well higher up than Clapp's Favorite. Seckel 
is the highest quality pear known. It is small and very mellow. 
Duchess, Flemish Beauty, Le Conte, Worden-Seckel, Garber, 
Manning's Elizabeth, Winter Nelis, Bosc, Howell, Sheldon and 
Vermont Beauty are good also, and succeed nearly everywhere. 
There are many other varieties of pears which have merit, but 
better stick to two or three best kinds for commercial orchard. 

Cross-fertilizing of blossoms is very important with pears. 
Where this is not sufiicient, the fruit is liable to be small and 
poor, rather than fewer in number. Time of blooming has to 
be taken into account, also, as varieties differ widely. Anjou, 
Flemish Beauty, Garber, Howell, LeConte and Kieffer, for 
instance, ordinarily will shed their petals before the flower 
buds of Vermont Beauty and Winter Nelis are open. Clapp's 
Favorite, Manning's Elizabeth, Duchess, Lawrence, Bartlett, 
Seckel and Clairgeau are between these two classes, and are 
likely to be fertilized by both. Local information on this 
matter is valuable. Spend a few days in observing pear trees 
blooming in the locality in which you intend planting. 

Pear foliage is tougher than that of most other fruits, still 
many enemies have to be reckoned with. Leaf Blight and 
Fruit Crack is fungus that causes reddish spots on the tops of 
leaves, brown spots underneath, and pink spots and cracks in 
the skin of fruit. For Fire Blight, Scab, Rot and Oyster Shell 
Scale, see the data under Apple. Pear Midges are mosquito- 
like flies which lay their eggs in the little fruits. From these 
hatch maggots which later cause the fruit to crack and drop, 
then the maggots spend the winter in the ground. Pear Psylla 
are sucking insects. See under Apple for the other scales. 
Caterpillars, and Codling Moth. Pear Slugs are greenish black, 
slimy worms that chew on the upper sides of leaves. 

1 06 



SPECIAL THINGS NEEDED BY FRUITS 



PEACH 

Locate a peach orchard on a north slope if you can, but if 
you can not, do not hesitate to plant in a different exposure. 
As with apples, the higher elevations produce the finer fruit. 
The kind of soil makes little difference so long as it is well 
drained. Peaches will neither grow well nor bear when they 
have wet feet. Protect from frost as much as possible in the 
ways discussed in the chapter on frost. Peaches are the most 
tender of fruit trees. 

Peaches must be cultivated. That is, the soil must receive 
treatment which will give the trees enough moisture, enough 
available plant food and sufficient fine earth in which the roots 
may feed. The time to begin cultivation is a year or more before 
the trees are planted. All that has been said about planting 
trees in general, and about planting apple trees in particular, 
applies to peach-tree planting. In cultivating bearing orchards, 
do not plow them in the spring until after the blossoms have 
come. 

When buying peach trees, remember that if you can get one- 
year-old stock at fifty cents each and two- or three-year-old 
trees for nothing, you will find the two- or three-year trees the 
dearer in the end. Young trees should be headed low. Do not be 
afraid you cannot get the horses under the limbs, as most of 
them will stand up out of the way during cultivating time. 
A small mule is better than a big horse in a peach orchard, 
anyway. 

In pruning peach trees, remember that they bear fruit only 
on wood a year old — that is, only new wood this year will pro- 
duce fruit next year. Half to two-thirds of each season's growth 
is the right amount to prune off. Peaches will not produce 
profit unless both pruning and thinning are regularly done 
well. The markets always, have plenty of little, off-color, and 
insect-damaged peaches, but never enough good ones. Grading 
and packing has an extra-large share in securing high prices. 

Growing peaches is a specialist's job. Wonderful successes 
are to be made by studying the needs and nature of this fruit, 
while failure to do the right thing almost invariably results in 
disaster. You must watch every point that has any influence 
on trees or fruit or price. Under good care, a peach orchard will 
live twenty-five years or longer; but the safest plan is to cal- 
culate on getting back the cost of the orchard, and your 
profit, from three crops, giving the orchard ten years from the 
time it is planted in which to do this. You are likely to get 
two or three times this, but you may not. 

Of the varieties, Ray is in a class by itself. Few others are 
so good, and none surpasses it when considered from the stand- 
point of all-round excellence. Ray and the following twelve 
kinds are recommended for a complete orchard, ripening from 
earliest to latest, in all of the country east of the Alleghanies, 
from Georgia to Maine: Carman, Mountain Rose, Champion, 
Moore's Favorite, Belle of Georgia, Reeves' Favorite, Old 

107 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

Mixon Free, Elberta, Stump the World, Crawford's Late, Fox's 
Seedling and Chair's Choice. 

In Michigan, Gold Drop, Kalamazoo, Smock and Salway 
are great successes. Hill's Chili, Champion and Crosby are 
among the most hardy, and do well far north. Another and 
second-best list for anywhere east of the Mississippi river and 
north of Louisiana, including the Atlantic Coast states, in 
order of ripening, would be these: 

Mayflower, Greensboro and Hiley for first ripening; Mamie 
Ross and Waddell for second; Slappy for third; Crawford's 
Early and Cornet's, fourth; Captain Ede and Thurber, fifth; 
Frances, Lemon Free, Niagara and Steven's Rare Ripe, sixth; 
Geary's Hold-On, Smock and Wonderful, seventh; Ford's 
Late White, Salway and Willett, eighth. 

Peaches of the seventh and eighth classes as listed are 
adapted particularly to mountainous sections. All of the very 
late kinds seem to thrive better on high land than on low. In 
the mountains of western Maryland and eastern West Virginia, 
Mountain Rose, Billyou's Late October and other similar kinds 
reach great perfection, while they do little good in Delaware 
and the Eastern Shore of Maryland. In the same way, many of 
the kinds which succeed best at the lower elevations practically 
are failures on higher lands. Before you plant, talk to local 
peach men, and learn what they have grown successfully and 
unsuccessfully. 

Planting of different varieties within reach of one another 
is not so important with peaches as with apples or pears, yet 
it should be done. All peaches in any one neighborhood seem 
to bloom at about the same time, regardless of when they 
ripen fruit. It will not, therefore, be so necessary to guard 
against the failure of early and late-blooming kinds to pollinate 
each other, though it is well to avoid setting solid blocks of 
one kind. Anything less than one hundred and fifty feet is a 
safe distance to have varieties apart when you want them to 
cross-fertilize. 

Peach trees and fruit are very susceptible to injury by 
enemies; but, with the exception of against one or two troubles, 
good spraying and other care will protect them almost com- 
pletely. 

Brown Rot, or Manilla Rot is a fungus. It comes first in a 
small brown-rotted area, which spreads rapidly, especially 
during wet weather. These rotten places later become covered 
with powdery white spores. Little Peach seems to be a relative 
of yellows; the fruit grows to about half the normal size, and 
stays green, sour and bitter until late. Peach Leaf Curl is 
due to a fungus, which causes the leaves to curl, thicken, turn 
brown and drop. 

Peach Rosette is another bacterial disease, something like 
yellows. Shoots on affected trees grow in bunches and remain 
short. Yellows is the disease for which we have no remedy but 
the ax. It is not known that Yellows is caused by bacteria, but 
this is thought to be the cause, and since the remedy is the same, 
we include it in that class. Watch for the premature ripening 

1 08 



SPECIAL THINGS NEEDED BY FRUITS 

of fruit, undersized yellow leaves that set at right angles to the 
twigs, and tufty bunches of shoots anywhere on the tree. 

Black Peach Aphis are shiny black sucking insects ^vhich 
attack both roots and tops. For San Jose Scale, see apples. 
This always is the same, wherever it appears, and remedies 
need not be changed. Curculios that attack pears are about the 
same as those that attack apples. In all stone fruits — cherry, 
■peach, plum, ecc. — curculio larvae infest the flesh next the seeds, 
causing the fruit to rot and drop. Fruit Bark Beetle, or Shot- 
Hole Borer, attacks only weakened trees. The little black bugs 
dig a channel an inch long under the bark. Lecanium Scale 
is a large brown scale, hatching in midsummer and crawling 
about for a short time; it is a chewing insect. 

PLUM 

There are four classes of plums, each having a predominating 
characteristic for which it is valuable. The American or native 
class, marked N, is very hardy. Its varieties bear many 
individual fruits of the smaller sizes. The Japanese class, marked 
J, bears choice fruit, and is adapted to the widest range of 
territory. Trees of varieties in this class are hardier than peaches, 
but not so hardy as apples. The European class, marked E, 
bears the finest fruit of all. It succeeds over a more limited 
area than the other types. 

Plums must not be grown on soil that is too wet, but they 
ought to have plenty of moisture, as they will not stand dry 
weather well. Heavy lands are better than light, although the 
Japanese kinds do well on soils lighter than the others will 
succeed in. Two-year trees are the best to plant. The work 
to be done is much the same as with the cherry, peach or apple, 
and you can safely follow the directions given in the chapter on 
planting, in the distance tables, and elsewhere. 

Plums must be pruned. Some kinds need more than others. 
The upright-growing varieties must be pruned by a system 
entirely different from those used with the sprawling kinds. 
Fruit is borne on wood two or more years old. Nearly all 
kinds require tip pinching. Keep the head open so that light 
can get in, and keep the bearing wood cut back enough to insure 
that trees will not break with their loads of fruit after a reason- 
able amount of thinning is done. 

Red June (J), Satsuma (J), Wickson (J), Burbank (J), 
Abundance (J), Bradshaw (E), October Purple (N), Ogon (N), 
and Shropshire Damson (E), all are good sorts. They will 
overlap in blooming time enough to cross-fertilize. Two or 
more varieties should be planted withing reach of one another 
for this purpose. An individual plum tree will set fruit, but 
it will not be so fine as that produced when another kind assists. 

Enemies to plums are overcome easily by proper treatment, 
yet do serious damage when they are left alone. The bacteria 
of Black Knot and of Crown Gall are the same with the plum 
as with the cherry or apple. Brown Rot of plum is the same 
fungous trouble that comes to peaches, while the Scales (suck- 

109 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

ing insects), and the Curculios, Borers, Shot-Hole Borer, Slug 
and Caterpillars (chewing insects) all attack plums. All of these 
are the same as these enemies on cherry or peach trees. 

QUINCE 

In this country there are grown far too few quinces, even 
for home use. Their flavor alone would make a market for two 
or three dollars' worth with every family in the land, were the 
quinces to be had. This amount should buy from fifty to 
seventy-five quinces. It is easy to pack and transport the fruit 
in perfect condition. Ordinary apple hampers, boxes, and bar- 
rels, or peach and grape baskets, are the packages in which to 
market them. Quinces are high-priced fruit, and good speci- 
mens are worth taking the best care of. Use wrappers for the 
individual fruits, and line the package with either plain paper 
or the corrugated caps. They should be packed without too 
much pressure, yet must not be loose. They should be picked 
while still a little green, even for home use, and ripened in a 
dark room. 

Quince trees will grow in any soil, but succeed best in heavy 
clay loam. They like plenty of moisture. The average hillside 
or top is too dry for the best results, but a soggy place will not 
do. The higher they are planted, however, the less trouble 
there will be from fungi. Underdrain a good damp soil and it 
will grow fine quinces — trees and fruit. Thorough tillage is 
almost necessary, yet a very heavy straw or hay mulch may do 
good work. The roots run close to the surface, so do not cul- 
tivate deeply. 

Pruning must be done regularly and by a system. Head 
back the new growth and thin well each spring; then, if possible, 
cut the tips back again in June or July. Quinces are real trees, 
not shrubs, if treated right. The trees should have short trunks 
and a round, shapely, well-branched head. Start with a straight 
stem from eighteen inches to two feet high, and grow your 
trees as they should be grown. Keep all suckers cut ofif from 
the trunk. Remember that the fruit is borne on shoots of the 
same yearns growth, which grow from wood at least two years oldy 
and prune accordingly. 

It is best to select at least two varieties when you plant, 
on account of cross-fertilizing of blossoms. If you plant only 
two trees, get different kinds. In an orchard you could use three 
©r four varieties to advantage. Orange, Champion, Meech, 
Bourgeat and Mammoth all are good. For home use the first 
three are to be preferred, but all are valuable commercially. 

It is a mistake to suppose that quince trees are attacked by 
so many enemies that they cannot be grown in the East. There 
are many enemies, but not so many as attack the peach, nor 
are they so difficult to control. Quince foliage is tougher and 
will stand stronger sprays than peach. Black Rot is a fungus 
which attacks quinces at the blossom, and, when they are 
about half grown, fruits rot, shrivel, and hang on for months. 
Blights, Rust, Scab, and other fungi, also attack Quince. 

no 



SPECIAL THINGS NEEDED BY FRUITS 

Aphides and the Scale are the sucking insects attacking the 
Quince, while Curculio, Codlin Moth, Bag Worm, Caterpillers 
and Borers are the chewing insects. These are all the same as 
on the apple. 

CHERRY 

In all parts of the East, cherries seem to thrive especially 
well, but it remained for Colorado and the Pacific coast to show 
what could be done in growing them. New York has some com- 
mercial cherry orchards, but the East does not grow one-tenth 
of the cherries it uses. Go into the better markets during the 
cherry season, and you will find that California and other 
Western states have supplied nearly all of this fruit. 

Medium-sized, one-year, unbranched trees, especially if 
they are of sweet varieties, are surer to grow than heavier ones. 
Two-year trees, however, are good when properly dormant. 
There is a world of difference in the growth and habits of sweet 
and sour cherry trees. In general, it can be said that the sweet 
do best on high land and in mountainous districts, while the 
sour reach their greatest perfection down lower, and on lighter 
soil. If there is a choice, select a light loam, gravel or similar 
soil, although cherries will thrive in any place that is not 
damp. They will not succeed to any extent in a seepage place 
that is not drained. Trees that are propagated on Mazzard 
stock are hardier and thriftier under adverse conditions than 
those on Mahalab or native stock; hence, get trees on Mazzard 
stock for exposed places and for northern districts. 

Cherry trees are prone to grow too fast, splitting the bark 
on trunk or limbs and doing other damage. For this reason, 
and because the fruit ripens much earlier than other tree fruits, 
cultivation should stop about the beginning of June. Never 
use very heavy mulches under the trees, nor much, if any, 
stable manure. Nitrate of soda, or any fertilizer containing 
much nitrogen, is liable to do more harm than good. This, of 
course, depends upon the soil. A poor soil, not deeply torn up 
at the start, will demand more nitrogen and cultivation to 
feed its cherry trees than a porous and mellow soil. But, in 
general, cherries will thrive best when the ground is seeded to 
grass and kept that way. 

The less cherry trees are pruned, the better for them. It 
is necessary to cut back the trees at the start, and to shape 
the head while it is growing. Cut out limbs that cross each 
other let in the sunlight, and remove dead limbs. That is 
about all that will be needed. Fruit is borne only on wood that 
is two or three years old. As for marketing, only a few words 
are to be said, yet these are of great importance. Remove all 
imperfect cherries, then pack the perfect ones in wooden boxes 
such as are shown in the packing scene on page 117. They 
should be arranged in rows, and must not be loose. On almost 
any city market you can get from fifteen to twenty-five cents 
a quart for good cherries packed in this way. 

The choice of varieties depends upon the color and flavor you 

zix 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

want more than on anything else. Black Tartarian, Governor 
Wood. Napoleon. Schmidt. Bing. Lambert. Windsor and Yellow 
Spanish are good sweet kinds, which vary in color from black 
to red. brown, and bright yellow. Baldwin. Dye House, Early 
Richmond. English Morello. May Duke, Montmorency, 
Reine Hortense and Wragg are good sour kinds of various 
colors. English Morello. Montmorency and Early Richmond 
are late bloomers. Baldwin is medium, and the rest are com- 
paratively early, yet doubtless all will overlap enough to cross- 
fertilize. Do not plant one kind alone; much better results can 
be secured when two or more different varieties are within a 
hundred feet of one another. 

Cherry trees do not have many serious enemies, but should 
be sprayed and looked after regularly. Black Knot can be 
recognized by the thick swellings on twigs, which later develop 
into black, warty growths, and break out all over the tree. It 
is caused by bacteria. Brown Rot of cherry is the same as of 
peach. Plum Leaf Blight, or Shot Hole Fungus, appears in 
small purplish spots, which turn brown and drop out, leaving 
a little round hole in the leaves. Cherry Aphides are shiny 
little plant lice, brown and black, found thickly on the under 
sides of leaves in May and June. They cause leaves to curl 
and drop early. Woolly Aphis is the same on cherry as on apple, 
as is also San Jose Scale. Curculio of cherry is about the same 
as apple curculio. eating away the flesh of fruit next the seed. 
Slug is the same as on peach. If Birds eat the cherries, hang 
bits of bright tin on limbs, or put a stuffed or live owl or cat 
in the tree. If mulberries or service berries are near, birds will 
not bother cherries so much. 

GRAPES 

Grapes are grown in all parts of the world, north and south, 
on high land and on low; they seem to thrive nearly as well in 
one place as in another. The kind of soil makes little difference, 
though it is probable that a heavy clay is better than a sandy 
soil. Vines thrive among rocks, on steep hillsides, and on rich 
bottom lands. Drainage is essential, as with all fruits, and in 
low pockets of land frost is likely to catch blossoms. An ex- 
posure to the south or the east is better than to the north or 
west. We cannot give the exact reasons, but know that both 
\-ine3 and fruit are attacked by more enemies when growing on 
low land than on high. Although it is subject to the troubles 
mentioned, from which hillside vineyards are free, a valley floor 
will grow the finest grapes. 

Vines are heavy feeders. Their roots extend far out and 
make a net-work in the soil. The proper distance to plant will 
be from six to eight feet apart, although sometimes this can be 
changed to advantage. Strong varieties, on fertile soil, need 
more room than small growers on poor soil. Before planting 
is done, the ground should be worked even more thoroughly 
and deeply than for a tree. Remember that you are planting 
something which will last a generation, not a crop to be removed 



SPECIAL THINGS NEEDED BY FRUITS 

in a season or two. Plow the land, use dynamite to dig the 
holes, and have a clearance inside the hole of at least twenty 
inches. After-cultivation should be complete and continuous, 
stopping each vear only in time to ripen the wood and fruit 
early in fall. 'Mulch systems do not succeed with grapes. 
Use one-vear vines if' you can get them, though two-year 
vines are nearly as good. Cut the little \-ine5 back to three or four 
buds, cut the roots back to ten inches in length, and then plant 
deeply, as early as possible in the spring. You can hardly get 
grapes too deep within reason. These newly planted vines 
should be mulched heavily with straw and manure, for two 
feet about the \-ine. They require lots of nitrogen, which the 
mulch will supplv while it is saN-ing moisture. Add whatever 
commercial fertilizer the \anes may lack, as indicated in the 
chapter on feeding plants. For the first season, the canes may 
be tied to stakes, or allowed to run on the ground. After 
that they should be trained on trellises, to make easy the 
spraving. cultivation and picking. 

For home trellises, use the form you like or can get best. 
In field \'inevards. the form most widely used consists of posts 
six feet high.' on which are three wires — one at the top. and the 
others below, about eighteen inches apart. A better way; in 
our opinion, is to put a cross arm on the post, about five teet 
from the ground, and string the three wires on this, one at 
each end. and one in the middle. Train the leaders of the vine 
up the post, in either case, then let the side branches grow out 
on each wire, in both directions, half-way to the next vine. 

The pruning of grape-vines has to be understood before it 
can be done with anv satisfaction or good results. At the same 
time, a vine 'j:iU not grow nor bear as it should if it is not pruned, 
and if it is not pruned right. Grapes are borne on new wood 
(of the same season's growth), and these shoots spring from 
buds on wood of the last year's growth. This applies to all 
American (so called) varieties, but not to the European or 
Scuppernong kinds, which bear on shoots from two-year wood. 
So. when we start with a new vine which has grown one summer, 
all the shoots except one should be cut off in the next winter 
(December to Februarv\ and this one should be cut back to 
three or four buds. When the next growth starts, only two of 
the strongest canes should be allowed to live, and these two 
will form the main trunk of the vine. _ 

The branches that arise from these two mam stems dunng 
the second season will go into the winter with a good crop of 
buds. Your two-year-old %-ine should bear not more than 
ten or a dozen bunches of grapes; so, in the second winter, 
cut off all the branches except three or four, and cut these back 
to two or three buds each, because each bud will average two 
bunches. In this way, thinning is done by pruning. This 
principle holds good \\-ith any \nne, no matter how old it is. 
One set of roots can mature properly not more than from forty 
to eighty bunches, depending on the kind and age. Each winter, 
cut every vine back so that it carries only half as many buds 
as you want bunches of grapes next season. 

113 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

A hard, well-ripened cane the size of your little finger is 
better than one thicker or slimmer, and very thick ones are 
worth the least of all. As the fruit-bearing shoots spring each 
year from wood of the previous season's growth, and from 
none older, your vines will be a few feet longer each year. 
About every three years, it will be necessary to let two or three 
new canes start from the original trunk, then cut away entirely 
the wood that has been bearing. Treated in this way, a vine 
will bear heavy crops every year for you, your children, and 
your grandchildren. 

Cross fertilizing is absolutely essential with grapes. Go 
through the woods and see the big, healthy wild grape-vines 
that are full of bloom, yet do not set a single bunch. At bloom- 
ing-time cut a branch from a vine bearing flowers of the oppo- 
site sex, take it near the barren vine and thrash it about a little. 
A great number of the blossoms on the vine heretofore fruitless 
will be fertilized, and will be loaded with grapes. This little 
experiment will convince you of the need of cross-fertilizing for 
any fruit. Not all varieties of grapes blossom at the same time, 
but they overlap enough to do the work. Any two kinds seem 
to be able to fertilize each other. 

Campbell's Early, Moore's Early, Concord and Worden 
are good black varieties. Delaware, Wyoming, Catawba, Brighton 
and Agawam are good red ones, and Pocklington, Niagara, 
Green Mountain (Winchell) and Diamond are good white sorts. 

Grapes have many enemies, almost all of which yield readily 
to spraying and other care. One method of preventing damage 
is to bag the bunches. This works every time, and does not 
cost much. When the grapes are about half-grown, paper bags 
are slipped over the bunches, and either tied around the stem, 
or split at the top and the two sides wrapped around the cane. 
These bags will stay on until the grapes are ripe, and prevent 
damage from all insects and fungi. Other remedies for all 
grape troubles are given in the spraying directions, and here 
follow descriptions of the enemies. 

Black Rot, a fungus, first appears on the leaves as small, 
reddish brown spots, and about two weeks later as light spots 
on the fruit, beneath which the fruit has decayed, These 
spots increase in size until they involve the whole berry, which 
finally turns black, shriveled and crumpled. Downy Mildew, 
another fungus, appears about the time the vines blossom. 
There comes a dense, white velvety growth on the under side 
of leaves and on shoots and fruit. This keeps up all summer. 
Grape Anthracnose, or Bird's Eye Rot, affects all green parts 
of the vine, but particularly the shoots and fruit. Little round 
brown dots with a border appear on the shoots, and gray, 
red and brown rings, one inside the other, on the berries. 

The Flea Beetle is a steel-blue bug about an eighth of an 
inch long, the young of which eat away the upper surface of 
the leaves. Grape Berry Moths look about the same, but from 
their eggs, which are laid in June or July, hatch white worms 
that eat into the grapes. Grape Phylloxera (insects) are indicated 
by fleshy growths on the under side of leaves, and by swelled 

114 



SPECIAL THINGS NEEDED BY FRUITS 

and knotty roots. Throw infected vines away and get clean 
stock. The young caterpillars of the Grape Plume Moth hatch 
early in the spring and bind together several leaves at the ends 
of shoots, feeding on them. Grape Root Worms feed on the 
roots of grapes, sta>'ing in the ground all winter, and then, in 
the spring, come up and feed on the leaves for a few days. The 
Grape-vine Leaf-hopper is a sucking insect, infesting the under 
sides of leaves. Rose Bugs are long-legged, gra\-ish brown 
beetles, about half an inch long. They are chewing insects. 

STRAWBERRY AND OTHER SMALL FRUITS 

All that has been said about the care of the soil for tree fruits 
applies to those which grow on vine and bush and plant. Even 
pruning of the small fruits should be done with the same prin- 
ciples in mind as when pruning a fruit tree. Less thinning is 
required, however, unless it be with strawberries. Strawberries 
are the best possible inter-crop for an orchard. With them you 
can get a good income from the ground, and give the trees the 
needed cultivation. Do not plant any berries, or other crop, 
nearer than four feet to the trees. 

In handling any intercrop between orchard trees, remember 
that you must not stir the soil after the first of August at the 
latest. It will be better left alone after the first of July. Straw- 
berry plants do not ripen up and become dormant till the ground 
freezes hard, but fruit trees must be entirely dormant before 
any hard frosts come, or great damage will result. The same 
remarks apply to watering the intercrop. Quite often it is 
possible, even in the East, to irrigate part or all of a strawberry 
field. For the plants this would be a desirable thing in the fall, 
but it would be very bad for the trees. 

The train loads of berries that go rolling to the big cities 
every May and June prove that strawberry growing is an 
important industry in itself, without regard to the plants 
in young orchards. On the Delaware and Maryland Peninsula, 
in parts of the Mississippi Valley, in California, and in the 
Northwest, wide sections have specialized on berry-growing. 
In these places, nearly every station has an ice-plant near, has 
a dozen or more berry-buyers" offices, and, in season, long lines 
of refrigerator cars are loaded every day. Go to these stations 
in the morning and see the strings of rigs coming in from the 
surrounding country, loaded with crates of berries picked since 
daylight. 

Strawberries are one of the quickest money crops. They 
mature a crop fourteen months from planting, and this can be 
sold for cash. It costs so little to plant a field that no farmer 
is too poor to do it. They •^s'ill grow anywhere, in nearly any 
soil, except clean white sand or soggy clay. The fields in north- 
ern Canada and in Florida and Texas seem to thrive about as 
well as those in Maryland or Missouri. There are varieties 
for every purpose, bearing firm berries and soft berries, ripening 
early and late. They can be depended upon for profit, and for 
the specialist they offer most attractive opportunities. 

"5 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

Young plants, that is, plants that never have borne fruit, 
are the only ones to use. After a plant has borne two crops, 
its old roots get dark, wiry, and finally nearly all die. A young 
growth starts above or below the old roots, but these roots never 
amount to much. Young plants have white, fibrous roots, and 
firm, well-developed crowns and stalks, which contain much 
stored-up nourishment for use when ground is frozen solid, or 
is too dry to allow the roots to gather more. Another important 
thing about plants is that they inherit the bearing characteristics 
of their parents. A plant produced by another that has been 
well cared for, fed properly, and which has borne a heavy crop 
of large, firm berries, will likely do the same if given good care. 
On the other hand, a plant produced by a parent thai has been 
neglected, starved or dried out, and which bore few berries or 
small berries, will have a tendency to make few fruits, of inferior 
size. 

It seldom pays to get plants from an old fruiting field. Get 
them from a breeding field or bed. The producer should make 
his parent plants bear, to see what they will do (no two plants 
bear alike, and the poor bearers must be destroyed). But the 
primary purpose of a breeding bed is the production of plants, 
and for the best results it must be cultivated and fertilized 
accordingly. In starting a field or bed, it costs little more to 
get plants that are right in every way, and it often makes a 
hundred per cent of difference in the returns. 

Almost any soil is a good soil for strawberries. It need not 
be deep. The depth to plow and tear it up will vary with the 
kind of soil and with its physical condition. Strawberries are 
naturally shallow-rooted plants, and must be encouraged continu- 
ally to send their roots deeper, in order to be sure of a supply of 
moisture and to feed in soil of an even temperature. A light 
soil should be torn up no more than four inches, while a heavier 
one must be mixed well as deep as eight inches. We would 
suggest that you go back and read over the soil-handling direc- 
tions given in earlier chapters. The essential features are to 
have the soil fine and loose, in good physical shape, but with 
no large air-spaces. The surface should be covered with a loose 
dust mulch to prevent evaporation. Plowing, disking, harrowing 
and rolling are all needed, the amount of each depending on 
the situation. Berries must have plenty of moisture and plenty 
of food, and half the battle to get these is in putting the soil in 
shape. 

The richer the land the better for berries. Barnyard manure 
is one of the best possible fertilizers. Five hundred to eight 
hundred bushels an acre is not too much, and it should go 
on with spreader. They need lots of nitrogen. If dry, irrigate 
them during April, May and June, if possible. It wiU pay (see 
pages 9 and lo). 

Spring is the time to plant in all sections north of North 
Carolina. South of that state fall planting is advisable some- 
times, yet if planting is done during late winter or very early 
spring, whenever the ground can be worked, better results 
usually will be had. In the North, planting should be done the 

ii6 




Grapes bear only on new wood. Each bud will average two bunches on new shoot. 




Bartlett pear orchard. Sod mulch is ordinarily better than cultivation fur pi ;u ; 




The way to pack cherries to realize big prices — but it requires proper packages 

117 




Commercial orchards of cherries pay more than apples if woper care is taken, 
trees have been cultivated, sprayed, shaped and watched right. 



These 




Strawberries are the standard inter-crop in young orchards. They always pay. 




Scenes near stations where co-operative marketing is carried on. Growers are bring- 
ing in fruits and produce of all kinds, and selling it right there for highest market 
prices. Future fruit-growing success depends on co-operative selling. 




Fruit stand in New York. Note packages. Prepare your fruit for this and you will have no 
trouble in getting high prices. Careful spraying, grading and packing most essential. 

ii8 



SPECIAL THINGS NEEDED BY FRUITS 

first day after February when the ground can be worked, after 
it has been prepared properly, as outlined. Mark the rows with 
a cord or a scratch made with pegs in a plank. Transplanting 
machines will do the work about twice as fast as it can be done 
by hand, but not so well. The very best way to set strawberry 
plants is to get down on your knees and use a trowel or dibble. 
The one great trouble with machines is that they set plants too 
deep or too shallow. The crown should come right at the sur- 
face, not a half inch below or above. Roots are better spread 
out as tree roots must be, but many growers simply drop them 
into a hole and pack the dirt firmly. A little experience will 
teach any one how to plant properly. 

There are three systems of planting in common use: the 
matted row, the hill and the hedge system. The former is the 
only practicable system for commercial fields. With it the 
plants are put in rows three or four feet apart and eighteen to 
twenty-four inches apart in the row. The first summer runners 
are left to form as many new plants as they will in a space a foot 
or so wide (beyond this they are cut off with a cutter on cul- 
tivator). With the hill system, one plant is made do the work 
in each place, and these hills may be from twelve to twenty 
inches each way. All runners are cut off. The hedge system is 
really a modification of the hill system, and consists of rows of 
hills, each plant having six inches or so of clean space about it. 
The hill and hedge systems make lots of work, though they 
produce fine berries, and are to be advised for all or part of 
home gardens. 

Mulching strawberries is done to keep soil moist and cool 
in summer, to protect the berries from mud and dirt when 
ripe, and to protect plants in winter. The winter protection need 
not be put on till after the ground freezes, as the plan is to pre- 
vent alternate freezing and thawing, and not to keep the ground 
from freezing. Such a mulch should be loosened up or raked to 
side of row in spring. Winter protection is not needed south 
of Maryland. Mulches, where winter protection is not desired, 
should be put on in spring, when the first thawing begins. 

Fields or beds will bear two good crops and no more. They 
may be renewed for one more year, and sometimes for two, by 
plowing all the matted row except four to six inches, applying 
manure heavily, working back to the remaining plants with a 
cultivator the thrown-out soil, then cutting out all the old 
plants left, and enough of the new ones to leave those that 
remain six or eight inches apart. This work should be done as 
soon as possible after the crop is removed. If the old plants 
are diseased, burn over the field before plowing. This will not 
kill the plants. 

Cross pollination of strawberries is very important. The 
blossoms are of two kinds. One kind is pistillate only (such as 
Haverland and Bubach). These are called imperfect, and they 
cannot set fruit without help from another variety. The other 
kind are both pistillate and staminate, and are called perfect. 
They can set fruit if no other kind is near, and they can fertilize 
other pistillate kinds, but their fruit is finer if they are cross- 

119 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

pollinated by another staminate kind. Reliable growers usually 
give the sex of varieties in their catalogs. One row of staminate 
blossoms will fertilize two rows of pistillate kinds. It is well to 
alternate varieties to some extent, no matter what kinds are 
planted, because plenty of pollination always results in the 
finest fruit. The sex of a blossom can be told from its appear- 
ance. The pistillate kinds will have at the bottom of the flower 
only a cone-shaped mass or body (the undeveloped fruit.) 
The staminate kinds have this and also many upright "stamens" 
on the ends of which the pollen is borne. 

We will recommend just five kinds for the commercial 
grower — Millionaire, Klondyke, Gandy, Havcrland and Parsons. 
For home gardens the list can be extended to a dozen or more, 
and they should be selected with consideration for color, quality 
of flesh and season of ripening wanted. Get those kinds that 
bear firm berries or soft ones, that are deep or pale red, and 
that ripen all the way from earliest to latest. There is much 
talk now of an everbearing Strawberry. Doubtless before long 
this will be developed to a satisfactory state, and, when it is, 
we can have Strawberries from May until October. 

Berries should be picked with the stems on, as they keep 
better this way. Of course no one would think of trying to ship 
berries without stems. Picking should be done while the berries 
are cool. The best time is early in the morning, before the sun 
has warmed them up. Do not let them remain in the field, nor 
let the sun shine on them. If you do not take them to the rail- 
road station and the refrigerator car immediately, get them 
into some kind of cool or cold storage without delay. The 
market package is standard all over the country — the quart 
boxes carried in a crate. Put the berries into these boxes as 
you pick. A basket carrier is needed for fast work. 

The berries should not be picked while there is any green 
about them. It does not pay. Grading should be done carefully. 
Pickers will have to do this, and they must be taught its im- 
portance. Good prices depend on uniform, proper grading and 
packing just as much with Strawberries as with apples. In 
seasons of low prices, and to take care of the culls, in any season, 
large amounts of berries may be processed — made into the 
fruit syrups used in confectionery and in flavors. At least 
five cents a quart can be realized in this way. The equipment 
is not difficult to install or handle, and any Strawberry neigh- 
borhood can afford one. Write us and we shall be glad to give 
you the details. 

Enemies of small fruits fall into the same classes as those 
of tree fruits, and must be combated with equal care. Among 
those of Strawberry plants, Leaf Blight needs no description. 
It is a fungus. Root Aphis are the little blue insects that live 
on the roots and suck out the sap. Leaf Roller is a small brown 
caterpillar. Slug is the same as on cheery or peach. Strawberry- 
crown Borers are the young of a drab beetle about half an inch 
long, and Strawberry Weevils are little black beetles that lay 
their eggs in the fruit buds of the berries, then go below on the 
stem and cut it, causing it to wilt and drop over. 



SPECIAL THINGS NEEDED BY FRUITS 

Currant Anthracnose appears as small brown or black spots 
on the under side of leaves. Leaf Spots of other kinds also cause 
the leaves to yellow and drop early. All are caused by fungi. 
Currant Aphis, Currant Leaf Hopper, Four-lined Leaf Bug, 
San Jose Scale and Scruffy Scale attack currant bushes. All are 
sucking insects. Currant Borers and Currant Worms are chewing 
insects, needing no description. Most of these enemies also 
attack other small fruits. Gooseberry Mildew attacks both leaves 
and berries. Its mark is the cobwebby covering on leaves and 
buds, and it is a fungus. Gooseberry Fruit Worms make their 
way into the berries and eat out all the pulp. They are chewing 
insects. Leaf Spot or Blight, Mildew, Tomato Rot, all are fungous 
enemies of the tomato. Bacferiosis of tomato is caused by bac- 
teria. The marks are sudden wilting of foliage, and a change 
from green to yellow and brown. Many insects infest tomatoes; 
the treatment for all is the same. What is known as Sun Scald 
on raspberries, etc., really is Anthracnose, a fungus. The marks 
are purple spots on young shoots, which, growing and extending, 
finally girdle and kill the canes. Crown Gall of the small fruits 
is the same as that of peach. It comes from bacteria. The 
same is true of Orange Rust. Rose Scale can be seen on the canes, 
near the ground. Blackberry Gallmaker, Raspberry Cane Borer, 
Slug, and Tree Cricket, all are chewing insects on small fruits, 

SUMMARY 

The location for an orchard should be chosen with reference 
to elevation, air-drainage, water-drainage, soil and nearness 
to transportation facilities. 

Varieties differ in season of ripening, color, flavor and texture 
of fruit, but to an even greater extent in adaptation to various 
elevations, latitudes, etc., in habit of growth, and in disease- 
and insect-resisting ability. Carefully choose the kinds suited 
to your locality. 

Cross-pollination is most important. To secure it, plant 
different varieties that bloom at the same time, within 150 
feet of each other. 

For any one locality there are only a half dozen or so kinds 
that head the list. Commercial orchards should contain no 
more than three or four kinds, and small orchards only two 
kinds. With carload lots of one kind you can command the 
attention of buyers and get much higher prices. 



X2I 



Marketing 



THE big profits in growing fruit depend upon the manner in 
which fruit is harvested and marketed, more than upon any 
other element. Picking, grading, packing and selling really 
constitute one operation, since all help toward one object — the 
placing of the fruit in the hands of the users in the best possible 
condition. While the average grower has much to learn about 
varieties, feeding, pruning, spraying, and other care, he must 
count his work a failure unless he knows also how to get the 
money for his fine fruit. 

Fruit should be picked at exactly the right time. A good 
way to tell when to pick most fruits is to lift them up gently — 
if they are ready to pick, they will come from the spur easily 
when you give them a little twist. Unless there is a tree trouble, 
or unless a variety is out of its latitude, this is a reliable guide 
for apples. Pears sometimes should be picked when they are 
a little greener. The softer varieties, like Bartlett and Seckel, 
especially, should come off a week before they take on their 
full colors. Peaches, plums, cherries and grapes are best when 
picked at the stage when they have colored-up well, but still 
are firm and hard. This is for shipping or keeping. For im- 
mediate home use, let all fruits except quinces mellow on the 
trees. In no other way can they get such flavor as is given by 
the sun and the wind. 

Be sure to leave the stems on all fruit except peaches and 
some plums. Apples from which twenty per cent of the stems 
are missing will be objected to on the best markets. Cherries 
and plums will not keep without stems. (But cherry stems 
ought to be clipped with shears after picking, leaving from a 
quarter to a half-inch only on the fruit.) With any kind of 
fruit, these stems come from a fruit spur, and from only one 
of several fruit buds. If you leave that spur and the buds 
undamaged, they will set fruit again next year. To break the 
spur or any of the buds means that you are deliberately killing 
a half-dozen fruits of the next two or three years' crop. See 
a detailed explanation of this in the chapters on thinning and 
pruning. 

Use baskets, rather than bags, to pick in, either of wood or 
canvas. The wood ones generally are best. Get those with 
the hinged handles that will enable you to empty the fruit 
out without dropping it an inch. Baskets that are open at the 
bottom are to be had on the market, and are very good. You 
can have a blacksmith make hooks with which the basket 
can be hung at the side of the ladder or to a limb, where 
both hands can reach it, or a strong hook made in the shape 
of an "A" will hold two baskets. If trees are high, have a 
rope and pulley with which a helper on the ground can lower 
the baskets while the picker works. Fruit in bags will be bruised 
when pickers climb over ladders and limbs. Employ men who 
will pick with both hands — the one-handed picker is closely 
related to the one-handed milker. Better stop picking during 

122 



PICKING, PACKING AND MARKETING 

hot, murky days. No picking equals that done with your hands, 
yet some of the patent pickers might be used for the fine fruits 
out on the ends of tall limbs. 

Ladders should be light and strong. Extension ladders will 
be good for high trees, but ordinarily the best are made from 
dead white pine poles cut in the woods, with cleats nailed on. 
These are light, very strong, and cheap. 

For peach trees, a three-foot picking bench is often what is 
needed. The next higher is a two-way step-ladder, with a plat- 
form near the top on which to set the basket. This is good for 
young apple trees too. A longer ladder arrangement, that can 
be moved about easily, is made by using a couple of strong 
wheels, of any kind and size, and axle, and two handles like 
wheelbarrow handles. The lower ends of two six-foot uprights 
are bolted to these handles near the axle, while the upper ends 
are bolted to the ladder eight feet or so from the bottom. Lad- 
ders should be laid into trees gently, and fruit should be handled 
like eggs. 

As soon as possible after the fruit leaves the twigs, get it 
into cool storage. Some of the best growers do not allow picked 
fruit to remain in the orchard or grading- houses more than 
thirty minutes. Fruit cooled quickly will keep longer and in 
much better condition than that left to lie around. Under no 
conditions pile fruit on the ground or grass in the orchard. 
Crates, bushel-boxes, barrels, etc., are all good for use in carry- 
ing apples and pears from orchard to grading or storage house. 
Peaches, plums and grapes should go in baskets or hampers, 
which are firm and solid. Shaky and yielding baskets will 
bruise fruit. 

Low-wheeled, broad-tired wagons, with a platform higher 
than the wheels, and no bed — just a four-inch rim — are best 
to haul fruit on. At the sorting-house or storage-place have 
platforms just about as high as the wagon platform, to make 
unloading quicker and easier. One grower uses large coffee- 
boxes to haul apples in, and loads these side by side on a wagon 
made by fastening two long, springy poles to the front and 
rear bolsters of a long-coupled wagon. Spring wagons are made 
that do good work, and one or two automobile makers offer 
big trucks that are efficient. 

What is first-class fruit? Take apples, for instance. The 
grading of other fruits is governed to a certain extent by the 
rules that apply with apples. That is, all fruit is graded for 
color, size and perfection, and any one who can correctly grade 
apples can grade the other fruits by applying common sense. 
'^Standard" big apples must be more than two and one-half 
inches in diameter. A standard small apple must be more than 
two and a quarter inches. These are the firsts, in regard to 
size. The next standard smaller size is a quarter of an inch less 
in each case. Size makes little difference in the selling price, 
so long as the apples are up to the mark in other things. All the 
apples in one package must be uniform in size and in color. 
The rules of all selling associations of the West, and the regu- 
lations under which fruit is judged at all the big shows are that 

123 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

the diameters of the different apples in the same package shall 
not vary more than a quarter of an inch. Most graders make 
only two classes for color — the brilliant apples and the pale 
ones. 

After size and color come shape and condition. Lop-sided 
or uneven apples are not wanted. Of course, this is a matter 
of variety to a certain extent, but the idea is to have them as 
even and smooth as possible. Worm-holes and all other insect 
damage, fungi damage and bruises must not be there. Judges 
will insist on fruit being ninety-five per cent perfect in this. 
The fruit must be flawless to get high prices. The other fruits 
are governed by the same general rules, each in its own way. 
Grade your fruit so that in one package you have only those 
specimens of about the same color, and of the same size to within 
a quarter of an inch. Never mix varieties. 

A packing-house, or grading-house, should have plenty of 
wide doors, and usually is filled with tables. Grading tables 
are sloping, with padded rims and tops. The fruit is brought 
from the orchard and slowly poured down these tables past 
the sorters, who separate and direct it into different chutes 
which lead to canvas or other receptacles that will not bruise. 
Often the whole table top, chutes, baskets and guides, etc., can 
be made of canvas better than of any other material. Grading 
is done with the eye, mostly, but beginners may find that a 
thin board with holes the exact diameter they want the apples 
will help to train the eye. Try the apples into the holes when 
you hesitate. 

There are many grading machines, nearly all made by cut- 
ting holes of the right size in an inclined board, and then rolling 
the fruit over these holes. The best grader we have seen is 
in use in the Hamilton orchard, in Colorado. It is the first 
real grading-machine, and is run by power. The owner of this 
machine cuts the holes in belts. If he wants six sizes, or three 
sizes, he uses that many belts, and cuts holes of one size every 
few inches in each belt. Then a series of drums or pulleys to 
which power can be applied are mounted on a frame, so that 
when the belts are on they will be end to end. If the belts are 
four feet long, three would make a machine twelve feet long. 

Hamilton used two sets of these belts, side by side, for apples — 
one side for the highly colored ones, and the other for the paler 
ones. A trough is built, with the belts for bottoms. Felt or 
broom hangers turn the fruit and brush it into holes. Suppose 
the holes in the first belt are two and a quarter inches in diam- 
eter. When all the apples are poured on it, and the belts re- 
volved, those apples of less than that size will drop through the 
first belt to a canvas chute below, and the larger ones will be 
carried on to the next belt, which has holes two and five-eighths 
of an inch in diameter. The last belt in the series can have 
very large holes, or the biggest apples can go over the end. Such 
a grading-machine can be made at home for less than a hundred 
dollars. 

Most fruit growers can afford to build a house underground, 
or partly underground, for their fruit; and this is the best 

124 



PICKING. PACKING AND MARKETING 

possible storage, excelling the buildings cooled by ice and 
ammonia, because all the original fine flavor is retained, and 
the apples do ^not lose so much from shrinkage. If you have 
to store in an ordinary cellar, keep the temperature as uniform 
as possible, at 40 degrees or under, provide plenty of ventilation, 
remove warm and impure air and let in fresh, cool air. Sewer 
pipe and chimney material, properly placed, will do this. Let 
your cold air in at the floor, and drain the other out at the ceil- 
ing. It is not good for the fruit or the people to store fruit in a 
cellar under a dwelling. 

A storehouse can be made cheaply by digging partly, or 
entirely, into a hill, and then putting over a wooden frame a 
layer of concrete in the form of an arch, six inches through or 
thicker. The floor should be of concrete. Such a house should 
be not wider than twenty feet, but may be as long as you require. 
It does not take a very big space in which to store several 
thousand bushels. We know of such a house with a capacity 
of seventy-five hundred bushels, which cost only eleven hun- 
dred dollars. 

The fall it was built, the owner had four thousand bushels 
of apples. At picking-time, he was offered eighty-five cents a 
bushel, and the buyer said this was fifteen cents above the 
market. None of them knew of the storage-house. Finally the 
grower took them to it. When they saw this, they immediately 
offered him a dollar and a quarter for all the apples he had. 
The difference between these two offers would have paid more 
than the cost of the house, without using it. So, by storing 
his apples, this grower realized nearly a dollar and a half for 
them that year. Such facilities make you independent of 
current markets. 

The temperature in an underground house can be kept 
below fifty degrees after the first of October, by taking in cool 
night air and shutting out warm day air. During November 
it can be lowered to any degree wanted, and with proper care 
of the doors and ventilators, the temperature will not vary 
a half degree all winter. The right temperature at which to 
best keep various fruits is as follows: Apples 39°, Cherries 
40°, Grapes 36°, Nuts 35°, Oranges 36°, Pears, Peaches, Plums, 
Prunes and Quinces 35°, Vegetables 35°, Watermelons 35°. 

Some growers grade and pack their apples as soon as they 
are picked, while others store them in bulk, and grade them 
when they are ready to sell. The plan to use depends on the 
market. In any case, have plenty of barrels, hampers, baskets 
or boxes. Use boxes whenever possible. It is safe advice to 
suggest that you pack in boxes all the apples that are fit for 
storing, and barrels for only those that go into consumers' hands 
at once, or for the poorer grades that go to drying and processing 
houses. Barrels have been the common package in the East, 
but other packages are fast displacing them. Hampers and 
bushel baskets are good where the shipping distance is only 
a couple of hundred miles, particularly for fall apples, and 
those which are too good for vinegar or apple-butter. The standard 
barrel for this country is seventeen and one-eighth inches in 

I2S 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

diameter at the head, inside; the staves are twenty-eight and 
a half inches long, the chimes three-fourths of an inch deep, 
and the barrel at the bulge is sixty-four inches in circumference, 
or about twenty-one inches in diameter. The capacity should 
be as near as possible ninety-six quarts — three bushels. 

Packing in barrels needs little explanation. Make at least 
two grades of apples, and it is better to make four or five. Face 
three layers with the stems down in the bottom, then put fruit 
in to fill up, either by pouring and shaking, or by placing each 
apple by hand. The latter is best. Face three rows on top 
with the stems up. Put the same size and color of fruit all the 
way through the barrel. The top layer should come an inch or 
two above the top of the staves. Then put the lid on top of 
these and force it into place with a press, or pole. Screw and 
lever presses are both good; the latter is the handiest, especially 
the kind that locks the pressure on while you nail in the head. 
The hard, unyielding sorts of apples should be squeezed less 
than softer ones. Thus Spies will stand only an inch or so, 
while Greenings should go down at least two inches. Do not 
leave them loose in the barrel, yet do not squeeze them too 
much. Some packers use a lace-paper circle under head of the 
finer grades. It always is a good plan to line the barrels with 
paper, and to use a pad on the top and bottom, inside. This 
pad may be of corrugated board, but the best ones are made of 
excelsior. The packing-pad should be thick enough to prevent 
bruising, yet not so thick as to make a slack barrel. When 
apples are stored in barrels, then sold without repacking, they 
should have a double-thick "winter" pad put under the head 
when taken out of storage. 

With hampers and baskets, grading should be the same, but 
there is little packing to do. Simply pour them in gently. A 
few growers face the top layer and use a corrugated board under 
the lid. The lids cannot squeeze the apples much. Hampers go 
to consumer with the minimum of rough handling, yet this is 
a style of packing that is not good for shipping more than two 
or three hundred miles, nor for other than early apples. 

"Take-home" baskets are another thing. They are used with 
all fruit. The idea is to get a package that is attractive, strong 
enough to be useful afterward, and of a size that will hold 
enough fruit to be sold at retail for a quarter- or a half-dollar — 
enough for one family a day or a meal. Such baskets can be 
packed in the orchard and shipped to the cities in big crates, 
which keep the baskets from shifting and the fruit from shift- 
ing in the baskets. Only the finest fruit, carefully graded, should 
be used. 

The standard boxes are ten by eleven by twenty inches, and 
the "specials" are ten and a half by eleven and a half by eigh- 
teen. The first is used three-fourths of the time. The two 
sizes are needed to accommodate different sizes of apples or 
pears, but no others should be used. These sizes contain a 
little less than a bushel, when level full, but the necessary 
bulge makes their capacity more than a bushel. In them, 
however, fruit is not sold by the bushel, but by the number of apples 

126 



PICKING, PACKING AND MARKETING 

or pears they carry, of a certain size, or tier. The box sizes named 
here have been proved by long experience to be best. Do not let 
any one tell you to use some odd size. Following is an expla- 
nation of how many apples are in a box, by all the different 
packs and with all sizes of fruit. In a standard box fruit 2^ 
inches in diameter makes a 4j^-tier pack (a tier is a column 
up and down, the length of the box); 2^ makes a 4j^-tier, 
2>^ a 4-tier, 3H a 3^-tier, 3^ a 3-tier, 3^ and larger a ar- 
tier. 

We recommend that growers use only the diagonal pack. 
It is a little harder to learn, but is greatly superior, both in 
eflficiency and in looks, to the straight-packed boxes, which 
are little better than barrels for carrying. Fruit in straight 
packs will always bruise, and always will have to go into the 
"slightly damaged" class. Of course, no fruit should ever be 
put into boxes without definite system. Even facing a row on 
top and bottom has been tried and abandoned. Therefore, the 
figures given here refer to the diagonal system only. Any apple 
packed in a barrel, unless with the greatest of care in handling 
all the way, is a damaged specimen when it reaches the consumer. 
A good box will deliver it almost perfect, therefore use boxes 
whenever you can. 

NUMBERS OF APPLES IN BOXES, AND ARRANGEMENT. 



dumber 


Size 


Number 




Number 


Number 




apples 
in Dox 


expressed 


rows 




apples 


layers 


Box 


in tiers 


wide 


Pack 


in row 


deep 


used 


52 


2V2 


2V2 


2-2 


4-4 


4 


Standard 


S8 


2H 


3 


2-2 


4-5 


4 


Special 


64 


3H 


3H 


2-2 


4-4 


4 


Standard 


78 


3H 


3H 


2-2 


4-5 


4 


Standard 


80 


3^ 


3H 


2-2 


5-5 


4 


Standard 


88 


3^ 


3>i 


2-2 


5-6 


4 


Standard 


96 


iy2 


3H 


2-2 


6-6 


4 


Special 


104 


3H 


3H 


2-2 


6-7 


4 


Special 


112 


3H 


zVi 


2-2 


7-7 


4 


Special 


120 


zH 


iVl 


2-2 


7-8 


4 


Standard 


ISO 


4^ 


4^ 


5-2 


6-8 


5 


Standard 


163 


4H 


4H 


3-2 


6-7 


S 


Standard 


175 




4H 


3-2 


7-7 


S 


Standard 


165 


\V2 


4H 


3-2 


7-8 


5 


Special 


200 


4^ 


4H-S 


3-2 


8-8 


S 


Special 



Just how to arrange the apples for each pack is difficult to 
describe, although it is learned easily by experience. The be- 
ginner soon will discover that certain-sized apples fit best one 
way, and others another way. This is the basis of all the systems. 
For instance, with the four-and-a-half tier, 163 apple pack, the 
bottom layer is started in the lower right-hand corner with 
two apples, placed side by side. Not one back in the corner 
and the other out, but both across the corner. In spaces be- 
tween these apples, and at their sides, three more apples are 
placed, with a fourth at the left-hand end of this row. The 
third diagonal row has five apples, in the spaces between and 
alongside the four in the second row. This process is continued 
till a full layer is made. As you pack, force the apples back 
against the ones put in first. The second layer of this pack, 

127 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

following out the system of putting the next apples in the 
hollows between the last ones, has an apple right in the corner, 
two more in front of it, with a third to the left of the two, 
making the second row, then five in the third row, and so on. 
As you fill the box, put the biggest apples at the center of the 
box. When the last layer is reached, there should be a bulge 
at the center of at least an inch. When the thin lid is nailed on, 
the boards will bend, holding the apples between a spring, 
in a way, and taking advantage of the first great point in the 
superiority of the box over the barrel — the flexible package. 
All kinds of apples can be packed in boxes. The usual plan is 
to pack only the finer ones. But, if an apple is worth growing, 
it is worth taking care of, and we are not advocating half-way 
measures anywhere in this book. 

Other packs are put up on exactly the same lines. You will 
soon learn how by doing it. Remember that the object is not 
the system itself, but to get the apples to the consumer in the 
best shape possible. Some apples will be loose in any of these 
classes, and with these it is advisable to use cardboard between 
the layers. Some growers also use corrugated paper on the top 
and bottom of box. In all cases, every box should be lined 
with two pieces of paper. This comes cut to the sizes wanted. 
In using, it is necessary to put a fold or pleat in each sheet 
where it goes into the lower corners, to prevent tearing when 
the bulge is made. Take a sheet in both hands, fold it toward 
you with fingers, then back again, then draw it across your knee. 
Apples should be wrapped in paper. This undoubtedly pre- 
vents wilting and keeps the air from them. A tissue, made for 
the purpose, is better than anything else. It comes ready cut 
in the right sizes, which are either ten by ten inches or eight 
by ten, and ready printed, too, if wanted. The cost of these 
wrappers is about 35 cents a thousand. 

Get a neat and attractive lithographed label, showing an 
orchard scene and your name, etc., to go on the end of each box or 
barrel. It is best also to have stencils or large rubber stamps with 
which to mark each package with exactly what is in it, as "3-tier, 
88, Stayman Winesap," and your name and address. If you grow 
good fruit and use care in getting it to customers, you are 
entitled to the benefit of the good-will you establish. Never 
make the mistake of trying to get the old packages back for 
use the next season. It pays to use new boxes or barrels each 
time. An old barrel or box will condemn the fruit it carries, 
right away. This applies to fruit packages of any kind. Where 
to buy barrels, boxes, hampers, baskets, depends upon your 
location. Watch the advertising columns of the farm and fruit 
papers and books. Send for prices and compare. The adver- 
tisements will be your buying guide for a good many things. 

Pears are best packed in the bushel boxes or in hampers. 
They shoidd be wrapped in tissue paper, first carefully graded, 
and very carefully arranged. The arrangement in the packages 
will be same as for apples. Some very fine pears can be shipped 
in peach carriers and sell to advantage. Plain fruit is handled 
best without tissue wrapping in hampers, 

128 



PICKING, PACKING AND MARKETING 

Many of the directions given for packing apples will give 
you hints on packing peaches, plums and other fruit. Various 
boxes and baskets are used for peaches. The best we have seen 
is the flat box of the West. This is eleven and a half by eighteen 
inches, and four, four and a half, or five inches deep. Just 
two layers of peaches are put into it, arranged just as you 
would place apples of the same size in a box. Peaches should 
be wrapped if they are fine. The regular one-sixth and one- 
half-bushel baskets and the high, flaring hampers also are good 
for peaches. They come in various sizes. Sometimes the fruit 
is arranged in rows and tiers, but more often it is left in a 
jumble. The rows are better, of course. The six-basket carrier 
is invaluable for the little baskets. In packing peaches, the use 
of corrugated caps and excelsior pads is especially recom- 
mended. A thick pad under the lid of a carrier will hold the 
fruit solid, and will prevent the top layer bruising. Always use 
corrugated boards under hamper lids. It pays. Quinces may 
be handled in the same way as pears. Grading these two fruits 
must be done by hand, and the different classes separated as 
described for apples. Plums have no special package. Peach 
baskets and boxes, grape baskets and strawberry boxes are 
good carriers for them. They should be arranged in rows, 
but need little wrapping, only the lining paper and the cor- 
rugated caps. Cherries are best nicely arranged in rows in flat 
wooden boxes. They can be marketed in strawberry boxes, but 
this appears to be a makeshift. Ten-pound baskets some- 
times are seen. Grapes should be left to wilt for twenty-four 
hours before they are graded, and then put into baskets hold- 
ing three, five, eight and ten pounds. These baskets are shipped 
in crates, and never are unpacked until they reach the eaters. 
If it is desired to hold grapes for quite a while in cold storage, 
or in refrigator cars, they must be packed in barrels and half- 
barrels, with cork "sawdust" as a filler between bunches. 

Drying, processing, making apple-butter, peach- and pear- 
butter, and vinegar, etc., will use up all bruised fruits. We can 
not give details here, but the tools and labor involved are within 
reach of every grower. Learn about them and realize on the 
windfalls and drops. 

As for selling, it's mostly up to you. You can grow good 
fruit and throw it on the regular market. If you have graded 
and packed it right, you hardly can fail to make a profit — get 
from $1 to $2 per bushel for apples, say, and other fruits in 
proportion. But "the man worth while" will not be satisfied 
with what the regular market gives him. He will look up his 
own consumers, or will get acquainted with big retailers or with 
a good commission-man, then stick to the same people until 
mutual confidence and dependence are established. They will 
appreciate the extra care given to the fruit, and pay high prices 
for it. Sometimes buyers will come to the orchard and take all 
the fruit you grow at a certain price, or you may be able to 
work up a trade in shipping your fruit to users all over the coun- 
try. Unless you can do this, or know your commission house 
very well, we strongly advise getting buyers to come to the 

199 



HOW TO GROW AND MARKET FRUIT 

orchard and buy for cash. You should grade and pack your 
fruit, however, with all care, and you should keep in touch with 
the market. 

The very best way to get the most money out of fine fruit 
is through growers' organizations. Selling conditions in the 
East at present are nothing more than a jumble. A few growers 
have located a market for their product, and are getting good 
prices, but for the great majority of growers there is nothing 
better than what some one or two buyers offer. If half of our 
eastern men could see for themselves how fruit is sold in the 
West, they would do things differently by the time next year's 
crop is ready to be sold. 

In the West, a smaller or larger number of growers will 
get together, agree on standard grading and packing, adopt 
a label for the association, provide storage and shipping facil- 
ities in some cases (but this is not vital), hire inspectors, who 
will see that all fruit is up to the standard in every way, and sell 
all the fruit through one of the officers. Very high prices are 
secured in this way. The big buyers know they can depend on 
the quality of the fruit and the correctness of the pack, and will 
hotly compete among themselves for your fruit. The processing 
of second-grade fruit and the handling of by-products, securing 
good freight rates, buying spraying materials, equipments, and 
buying market packages, are all done a hundred per cent 
better by an organization than by the individual orchardists. 
It does not matter what kind of fruit is grown. 

On the Delaware and Maryland Peninsula, and in certain 
sections of the middle West, another kind of organized selling 
is carried on effectively. Growers' unions, or farmers' unions' 
are formed, officers elected, and these men seek out markets 
for every product raised. They have an office, or remain near 
the station or landing, all the time during season, and promptly 
buy everything offered them (for cash or on consignment) 
at highest market rates. No profit is made, and the total 
of the prices received is given to growers, after the small run- 
ning expenses are subtracted. The commission-men in the 
cities send their buyers to the stations to compete with the 
union buyers, and many times individuals will do the same. 
The buyers keep cars waiting all the time, and forward stuff 
immediately. It is a poor community that cannot load several 
cars a day all through harvesting season. 

The organized selling idea and practice is what the East 
lacks. Hardly any community would fail to make a big success 
of such a plan, if two or three live men would start a movement 
for it. We know that it is successful, and we strongly urge all 
our friends to try some such system for handling the next crop. 
We shall be glad to tell you in detail of the by-laws and 
organization of some of the Peninsula organizations if you 
will write us. 

One last word. Keep posted. Read farm and fruit papers 
and books. They will aid you in many a problem, and will help 
you to make your orchard a success and your life interesting and 
worth while. 

130 



PICKING, PACKING AND MARKETING 



SUMMARY 

Half of the failures to make fruit-growing profitable come 
from careless and improper picking, grading, packing and selling. 

Pick the fruit at the right time. Handle it as you would 
eggs, rush it into cool storage, carefully grade it into three or 
four classes, and pack it so it will reach the consumer in as good 
shape as it grew. 

With much fruit to handle, grading machines are time- and 
money-savers. 

Grading and packing are almost a science. They require 
study and skill, and their importance must be realized more than 
in the past. 

Always put your name and address on your packages of 
fruit. Name your orchard, and get an attractive design for 
package labels if possible. 

You can use nearly all culls by drying or processing. Can- 
ning, preserving, making syrups, juices, cider, vinegar, etc., are 
very profitable methods of preventing waste. 

^ In selling, get acquainted with good commission men, or 
with retail customers, and stick to them, or invite the buyers 
to your orchard and sell for cash, you to pick and pack the 
fruit. 

If possible, organize a fruit-grower's association. Such an 
organization will surely be able to get 50 per cent more for 
all fruit produced than individual growers can. It is the solu- 
tion of a great many problems that puzzle eastern growers. 
Through it buying and selling are done from a commanding 
position, rather than from a begging one. An association can 
dictate terms to buyers, instead of buyers making the offers. 



131 



HERE'S a simple, 
strong, low-priced 
light-draft riding harrow which 

covers more surface with less draft than any 
other cultivator made. It works right up to 
the trees and under lowest branches without 
harming fruit or leaves in the least 

^^rViSkX Draft HarrowA 

make it possible to thoroughly cultivate 20 to 30 acres per day with two horses. 
They lift and turn the soil and leave it in slight waves, thus exposing more 
surface to the chemical action of the sun and rain. They make a perfect 
dust-mulch, which conserves maximum amount of moisture. 

Write for Free Trial Offer— and Booklet. 
Wc will ship to responsible parties on 30 days' nsklcss free tnaL 
^Frec booklet "Modern Orchard Tillage," tells the whole story^ 

UGHT DRAFT HARROW CO. 

Blank St., Marahalltown, Iowa 



Grow Fruit Where Fruit -Growing 
Is Easiest and Marketing Best 

Why spend days and weeks, and hundreds of dollars, overcoming 
bugs and fungi, when you can so easily start growing fruit on the 
Delaware-Maryland Peninsula, where, on account of salt air, cool 
nights, etc., enemies trouble trees less than anywhere else in America? 

The Peninsula is not South, nor entirely North. It has the cool 
nights and fresh breezes of northern mountain and seashore locali- 
ties, the tempered winters and much sunshine of southern lands. 
The ocean and the bays are only a few miles away. Spring frost 
damage is largely absent. The air is moisture-laden all summer. 

Peninsula soil is deep, rich sandy loam, or sand, loam and clay. Roots 
go far and deep. Plant food will not leach. Some of the land has 
been farmed for two hundred years and still is rich as ever. Mar- 
keting facilities are wonderfully good. You can sell everytliiiig 
you produce at the railroad station nearest you for Ughest 
market prices. For selling their product, growers of the Peninsula 
are organized in a manner equaled in only one or two other localities 
in the country. 

Get our book, " Where Markets Seek You." It tells all about 
these advantages for the farmer and fruit grower — shows you with 
many pictures taken last summer, in the orchards and farms and 
markets of the best place to live in the country. Land is 
cheap. We will help you get acquainted. Let us hear from you. 

The Peninsula Real Estate Company 

North B Street, Selbyville, Delaware 




Special Apple Box 



Pack Fruit Right! 

Shiftless packing accounts for half of the 
failures to get big returns from fruit. Modern 
markets pay high prices and demand trainload 
after trainload of fruit, but it must be packed 
Tig,it._ The fruit must reach the consumer in 
practically as good shape as it left the orchard. 

Intelligent packing in boxes, hampers, baskets 
and crates is not difficult, but the right kinds 
of these packages are not to be had everywhere. 
Some are made of poorly adapted material, 
others are wrong in size and shape. It often is 
difficult to get delivery on time. Many growers 
are paying too much because modern packages 
are comparatively new to them, and they 
hardly know what is a fair price. 

COLES & COMPANY 

will help you out. This firm manufactures its 
own packages, has mills and factories in the 
best lumber-producing sections, and gets cheap 
water and rail freight rates to its warehouses 
It can ship on short notice any reasonable 
number of any package. 

Standard and special apple boxes, shipped 
knocked down, printed on one or both ends in 
car lots without extra charge. Hampers all 
sizes; peach baskets, all sizes; Cole's Improved 
Picking basket, with swinging steel handle; 
Arrow Brand sweet gum berry baskets, excel- 
sior cushions, corrugated caps, lace ' paper 
circles, packing paper and tissue fruit wrappers 
Get prices on what you need — you will be sur- 
prised how low they are. You will be pleased 
with the quality of the packages and our 
prompt service. 

COLES & COMPANY 

Package Dept., 109-111 Warren St.. New York Citr 
Be sure to address "Package Department" 





Hi^^^M' 



Excelsior Cushions for Barrels 
and Baskets 



^ A R P W ^ ^ 



Coles' Improved Swinging- 
handle Picking Basket 



Sweet Gum Berry 
Basket 



The f anuine "CUTAWAY" tool* are used and endorsed by suc- 
cessful orchardists from coast to coast and from bay to gulf 

In orchard work, the driver can cultivate under 
the trees and below the low limbs, the horses not 
interfering with the branches. The double levers give 
the driver full control of tool at all times. For regu- 
lar farm work, the gangs can be drawn together. 

UTAWAY 

Single Action Orchard Harrow 

Every orchardist and fruit- 
grower should have one or more 
of these labor savers and fruit 
makers. They will positively pay 
for themselves in one season. To 
investigate is to be convinced. 
Thorough cultivation makes large crops. Stirring the 
soil lets in the air, sunshine and new life, and kills foul 
vegetation. The "Cutaway" disc slices, stirs, lifts, 
twists and aerates the soil. Clark's "Cutaway" Tools 
run lighter and do better work than any other machine. 
Lasts a lifetime. 

Send today for new catalog, "Intensive Cultivation." 
Of course, it's free. 

CUTAWAY HARROW COMPANY 

200 Main Street HisKanum, Connecticut 

y. H. Hate, the "Ptaeh Kint," -writes: "The Double Action "CUT- 
AWAY' is a splendid tool. I use it in polishing oflf my peach orchards 
several times a year. A good pair of horses handle it all right." 





How to Sell YOUR Apples for 
Three Dollars a Bushel — We 
Can Help You Get WESTERN 
Prices for EASTERN Fruit 

Eastern-grown fruit sells in New York and other big markets for one-half to 
two-thirds of the prices paid for western-grown fruit that is not a whit better. 

Eastern fruit is better flavored and will keep longer; shipped only two or 
three hundred miles, it reaches consumers in better condition than is possible 
with fruit shipped two or three thousand miles. 

Eastern fruit is superior in many ways to western fruit, and it ought to 
bring more money. It doesn't solely because Western growers are better 
organized, and know better how to sell than those of the East. When a 
grower or a community learns how to grade and pack, and has standardized 
the quality of fruit shipped, as well as the condition and size of packages, 
buyers come after the fruit and pay the prices asked. 

There is no secret about getting high prices regularly. System and organi- 
sation are the things. Twentieth century methods bring the high prices. If 
you grow good fruit, we can help you get three dollars a bushel for apples, 
and proportionate prices for other fruits. We have helped Florida growers 
get more for their citrus fruits than they ever did before. The citrus fruit 
industry is on a firmer basis there in consequence, and the whole state has 
been benefited. This is but one instance. Let us tell you how you can 
simplify your selling problem, and realize the most money. 

The McFarland Publicity Service 

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 




ST. JOSEPH. MISSOUR,! 



«2J, 



.^. 



Keep Posted. Make Hundreds 
of Dollars More Than You Do 

*0r^/!> M' X. A man in Maryland wanted to spray a peach 

5S^i^ .qw orchard, but his brother, who owned a half interest, 

- ' ■^' wouldn't allow it. Result: that fall the crop was 

only 30% of normal in quality, and brought little 
profit. The first man had seen indications of a cer- 
tain fungus, and was partly posted, but he wasn't 
sure, and the second man didn't know anything 
about it. 

A man in Missouri had a fine crop of apples, 
which had been well cared for— but he lacked mar- 
keting knowledge. He didn't know what his apples 
were worth; he didn't know how to grade them, 
pack them, where to get packages, or who would 
buy the fruit. A buyer visited his orchard, offered 
him $5 000 for his crop on the trees, and he ac- 
cepted". This was just before picking. The buyer 
picked almost $20,000 worth of apples from this man's trees. The orchardist 
had actually lost at least $10,000 by his failure to keep posted. 

Another man got to thinking of fruit after he had taken a trip to the city, 
and when he came home he planted 1,800 trees of a variety which was not in 
market demand, and what was worse, planted the block sohd with the one var- 
iety, which would not poUinate itself. He now has to top-work all those trees. 




Don't throw away so much money 

These are not exceptional cases, 
either. There are buyers who 
simply look for the unposted 
man, and when they find him, 
they soak him hard. The 
need of keeping posted runs 
through all the fruit-grow- 
ing game. You can gain a 
year's growth sometimes by 
some kink in planting, save 
ten dollars here and fifty dol 
lars there by a little different 
spraying, increase the bushels 
and the quality by careful 
pruning, or double your money 
receipts by properly grading 
and packing your fruit- 




There's just one way to keep posted 

Read The Fruit-Grower, and read The 
Fruit-Growers' Guide-Book. The 
Fruit-Grower is easily the 
leading fruit and farm paper 
of America. It is so much 
more meaty and practical 
that no others claim to be 
1 as good. It will tell you 
' what growers are doing to 
get bigger and better crops, 
will tell you where to get 
supplies, what your crop is 
worth, and where to sell it. 
The things it will tell you will 
be worth to you more in a 
RADE-MARK year than the best man you 
lATHAH could hire. 



THE FRUIT-GROWER'S GUIDE-BOOK has almost 300 pages, cloth bound, 
and is a business book from the first page on. This advertisement appears in a 
very good fruit book, but are not two heads wiser than one? Our chapters on 
enemies, spraying, harvesting, grading, packing processing and marketing, are 
particularly complete. Where words will not tell the story clearly enough, pic- 
tures and drawings are used. For instance, with it as a guide, you can identify 
any bug or fungus; diagnose any fruit tree disease; prune any kind of a fruit 
tree in the proper manner; you can put smoothly-peeled peaches, whole or 
halved, into the small glass jars you see in the city groceries and you can do 
a hundred other things you will be called upon to do on a fruit farm, which 
will pay you the extra money. 

$2 VALUE FOR $1 

Send us $i NOW, and we will send you The 
Fruit-Grower one year, and The Fruit-Grower's 
Guide-Book. The subscription price of The Fruit- 
Grower is $1 per year, and the price of the book 
is $1 — you are getting $2 value, considering the 
regular price. In reility you are getting a $500 
value, for the magazine and the book will be worth 
that much to you if you have not had them before. 
Properly read, they amount to a thorough educa- 
tion in fruit culture. How much would that be 
worth to you? Send your order in at once, as this 
offer will not hold indefinitely, and you inay be 
missing some good chances right now, which the 
magazine or the book will tell you of. 

THE FRUIT-GROWER 



ST. JOSEPH 



MISSOURI 




Choose the Pioneer! 

The average sprayer has been on the market 
only a few years — five or ten is about the limit 
for a good many of them. 

We commenced making Deming Sprayers in 
the early 90's; we have been in the spray pump 
business for nearly twenty years. 

That gives us a big start — we've kept right at 
it, every year up to and including this present 
one, trying out our own machines. We've 
watched them at work in our customers' orchards 
— tried them under every kind of severe test to 
find out where they needed improving — and 
have brought the original types of 1 89 1 to the 
compact, well-balanced, enduring machines w^ith 
which the growers of the country are so familiar. 

We make several styles of power outfits, and 
more than 1 5 different hand machines beside. 
Our nozzles are known everywhere, as w^ell as 
our attachments, hose and other supplies. 

MORE ON NEXT PAGE— READ ON 

THE DEMING "PREMIER." 2'^ or 3'4 H. P. Engine, Air-cooled 




Deming Spray Pumps 



Used By Successful 
Orchardists Everywhere 

A great many of whom, when buying additional equipment, 
specify "Deming's " again. That, we think, is the strongest O. K. 
they could give. Deming's Spray Pumps please the growers for 
several good reasons: 

They are designed right — well-balanced. Their construction is 
substantial, rigid — all parts in constant alignment. No surplus 
weight — a big feature in anp orchard, particularly one on a 
hillside. 

They are built right. All parts touched by spray liquid are soHd 
brass — can't corrode. Other castings are made of durable, close- 
grained gray iron, carefully inspected before eissembling. 

They work right — maintaining a strong, steady pressure, varying 
from 80 to 250 pounds, according to the number of nozzles. The 
spray is driven hard and in a fine, misty fog against the branch — 
and it sticks there, doing the most lasting good. 

Deming Outfits are handled by leading hardware dealers ; stocks 
carried in principal cities. Catalogue free — we'll include a copy 
of Prof. Weed's valuable little book, "Spraying for Profit," if you 
mention having seen this advertisement in "How to Grow and 
Mau-ket Fruit." State how many trees or acres of orchard you have. 

THE DEMING COMPANY 

105 SUCCESS BUILDING SALEM, OHIO 

Manufacturers of Hand and Power Pump* for All Ums 
CompreMion Tank Systems, Hydraulic Rami, Etc. 



THE DEMING "CENTURY" 



THE DEMING "SAMSON' 




Deming Spray Pumps 





UseOri 
For El 


chard Brand 
FFECTIVE ( 


Sprays 
]ontrol 




Lime-sulphur 
Solution 

Soluble Oil 

Arsenate of Lead 

Atomic Sulphur 

( The greatest known 
fungicide) 


COOPERATION 

Means 
Mutual Benefits 

Our customers receioe, 
free of charge, or of 
obligation, the most 
valuable orchard in- 
formation and help. 

Write for Orchard Census 
Blanks — they are free 


Oriole Weed 
Killer 

Kills grass and weeds 
anywhere 

Atomic Sulphur 

and 
Arsenite of Zinc 

For potatoes and 
truck 




You wouldn't spray your trees with clear water, just for 
the sake of spraying. You'd know it was time and money 
wasted. 

You spray to control "bugs," and you can't afford to 
waste time and opportunity with spray mixtures that pro- 
duce uncertain results — when you can get Orchard Brand 
Mixtures. These solutions always do the work they are 
intended to do, because the chemicals are combined right 
and then tested, by makers who have developed great 
skill through long study of orchard problems. 

Shrewd, successful growers all over the United States 
arc using and recommending Orchard Brand Mixtures, 
because they make results so much more certain, efficiency 
so much greater, and final cost in relation to returns so 
much less than any other spraying mixture you could use. 

There are wide differences among the varieties of fruit in 
their behavior in orchards, their resistance to insects and 
fungi, and in effects of chemical treatment on them. The 
most successful orchardists are those who understand these 
differences and apply their knowledge when spraying, prun- 
ing and cultivating. 

In the development of its business of making insecti- 
cides and fungicides, the Thomsen Chemical Company has 
worked along scientific lines for the past eight or ten years, 
carefully accumulating knowledge of these differences and 
of their bearing on orchard operations. 

This store of information is at the service of fruit 
growers. On request, we will furnish blanks for a census 
of your orchard, on which you can fill in the varieties, 
age of trees, soil conditions and other data. This will 
enable us to give you many valuable hints that will mean 
dollars in your pocket. 

Write for some blanks and for information about Or- 
chard Brand Spraying Mixtures now. The time to plan 
next year's spraying is months before you start. You 
don't know what handy, efficient spraying is till you get 
acquainted with us — let us hear from you. 

THOMSEN CHEMICAL COMPANY 

Atomic Division, BALTIMORE, MD. 





INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS 



Acme harrow, 4. 

Asparagus, 13, ig. 

Air drainage, 3, 35^ 

Aphis, 63. 

Apple box, 82, 133. 

Apple trees, headed right, 41. 

Asparagus, 13, 19. 

Bagging grapes, 100. 
Barrel sprayer, 64. 
Bartlett pear, 117. 
Baskets, picking 82, 133. 
Baskets, peach, 99, 133. 
Beans, 14. 
Bitter rot, 58. 
Blossoms, 42. 
Blossoms, grape, 117. 
Blotch, 58. 
Bolting, 57. 
Box compressor, 81. 
Boxes, 133. 
Buds, frozen, 63. 

Carriers, peach, gg. 

Cedar rust, 58. 

Chemicals, 138. 

Cherries, 99, 117, 11 3. 

Chicken-yard planting, 35. 

Clover, 13. 

Cluster buds, 63. 

Cooperative marketing, 118. 

Codlin moth, spraying stage for, 64. 

Cover crop, 13, 14. 

Crotch splits, 57. 

Cultivation, 3, 4, 20, 25. 

Cutting-back, 41. 

Cutting, wrong, 42. 

Curl leaf, 58. 

Diagonal pack, 82. 
Drainage, 13. 
Dust mulch, 25. 
Dwarf trees, 13, 36, 42. 
Dynamite, 14, 26. 

Exposure, 3. 

Facing barrels, 82. 
Frog eye, 58. 
Frost damage, 63. 
Fruit stand, 118. 

Garden, fruit, 13. 

Grafting, 57. 

Greenhouse, 117. 

Grading, 117. 

Grapes, 3, 99. 

Grape, bearing habit of, 117. 

Grapes under glass, 117. 

Hampers, 81, 82, 133. 
Harrows, 4, 134, 132. 
Heads, low, 8a. 
Heading, wrong, 42. 
Heeling-in, 26. 

Irrigation, 14. 

Inter-crop, 14, 19, 35, n8. 



Leaf curl, 58. 
Legumes, 3, 13. 
Lime-sulphur, 138. 

Marketing, 118. 
Market packages, 1 18-133. 
Mice damage, 20. 
Moisture conserving, 25. 

Nipping, 48. 
Nozzles, 81. 

Orchard plan, 25. 

Orchard records, 47. 

Orchard, young, 4, 13, 14, 20, 81, 

118. 
Ornamental fruit trees, 42. 

Packing, 81, 82, 99, 117, 118. 

Peach, headed right, 35, 41. 47. 

Peaches, Ray, 99. 

Peach orchard, 13, 19, 35. 

Pears, 3, 36, 41, 117. 

Peas, 3. 

Picking, 82. 

Planting system, 25, 26. 

Planting, too close, 35. 

Pollination, insufficient, 63. 

Power sprayers, 64, 81, 136. 

Pruning, 3, 41, 42. 

Pruning tools, 47. 

Processing, 82. 

Quince, 100. 

Roadside planting, 3. 
Rust, 58. 

San Jose Scale on fruit, 63. 

Scab, 58. 

Selling, 118. 

Shipping, 82, 118. 

Sod mulch, 13, 19, 20, 36, 48. 

Split forks, 57. 

Spraying, 57, 64, 81. 

Sprayers, 57, 64, 81, 136, 137. 

Spraying house, 57. 

Scab, spraying stage for, 63. 

Staking, grape, 99, loo. 

Storing, 81. 

Strawberries, 14, 19, 25, 100, 118. 

Tags, 47. 

Tanks, 57. 

Take-home baskets, 82. 

Thinning, 36, 42, 48. 

Tomatoes, 19, 25. 

Top working, S7- 

Tree butchery, 42. 

Trees, young bearing, 20, 26, 42, 81. 

Trellises, 99, 100, 117. 

Vineyard, 99, 100. 

Way orchard, 20. 
Windbreaks, 4, 48. 
Wrappings, 82. 
Whitewashing, 3. 



139 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS TREATED 



Galley 2. Index. Harrison. 

Acme harrow, 4. 

Air drainage, 3, 35, 44. 46, 60. 

Air flow, 46. 

Air spaces in soil, 37. 

Ammoniacal copper carbonate, 91. 

Anthracnose, 87. 

Antiseptic, 77. 

Aphides, 84. 

Aphis, 63. 

Apple spraying, 84. 

Apple enemies, 104. 

Apple box, 82, 133. 

Apple orchard, 35. 

Apple, 102. 

Apple box compressor, 81. 

Apple trees, headed right, 41. 

Arsenite of zinc, 86. 

Arsenate of lead, 76, 77, 86, 92. 

Asparagus, 13, 19, 40. 

Asparagus beetle, 86. 

Bacteria, 7, 21, 69. 

Bagging grapes, 100. 

Bartlett pear, 117. 

Baskets, picking 82. 

Baskets, peach, 99. 

Baskets, 122, 126, 133. 

Barrel, facing apple, 82. 

Barrel sprayer, 64. 

Berry moth, 87. 

Bear, making trees, loi. 

Beans, 14. 

Bitter rot, 58. 

Blossoms, 42, 56. 

Blossoms, pinching, 68. 

Blossoms, grape, 117. 

Blossom shucks, 64. 

Blotch, 86, 158. 

Blight, 86. 

Black rot, 87. 

Blue beetle, 87. 

Bolting trees, 57, 98. 

Bordeaux mixture, 77, 85, 90, 91, 

138. 
Bordeaux-poison, 94. 
Borers, 94. 
Boxes, 126, 133. 
Books, 135. 
Box compressor, 81. 
Brown rot, 86. 
Bridge grafting, 97. 
Burying trees, 53. 
Buds, disappointing, 68. 
Buds, frozen, 63. 
Butchery, tree, 42. 

Capillarity, 11. 
Canker worms, 84, 86. 
Carriers, peach, 99. 
Cedar rust, 58, 84. 
Chemical action, soil, 3i. 
Chemicals, 138. 
Cherry, 86, 99, iii, 117. 
Cherry enemies, 112. 
Cherry cultivation, iii. 



Cherry orchard, 118. 

Chicken yard planting, 35. 

Cloud, 86. 

Cluster buds, 63. 

Clover, 13. 

Costs, 5. 

Cover crops, 12, 13, 14, 33, 27, 

28. 
Cover crop seed, 28. 
Codlin moth, 64, 84, 105,106. 
Co-operative marketing, 118. 
Crops, normal, 18. 
Crops every year, 74. 
Cross pollination, 54, 56, 103, 119. 
Crotch splits, 57. 
Cultivation, early spring, 38. 
Cultivation, mulching, and other 

orchard treatment, 33-44. 
Cultivation, 20, 25, 34, 43, 45, 107. 
Cutting limbs, 66, 69. 
Cutting, wrong, 42. 
Cutting back, 41. 
Currant, 86. 
Curculios, 84, 86, 87. 
Culture, 34, 133. 
Curl leaf, 56. 
Cut worms, 97. 

Diagonal pack, 82. 

Directing growth, (see pruning), 

66. 
Diseases, 75, 77, 105-121. 
Double crops, 32, 40. 
Drainage, 13. 
Dust mulch, 12, 16, 25, 37, (see 

moisture) 
Dwarf trees, 13, 36, 42. 
Dynamite, 14, 15, 16, 26, 34, 39. 

Enemies,l6, 65, 73, 74, 78, 98, 105-121. 
Elevation, 44. 
Essentials, fourteen, 6. 
Exposure, 3, 45, 49. 

Facing barrels, 82. 

Farmers' unions, 130. 

Fertility, 10, 11. 

Fertilizing, 32, 59. 

Feeding fruit trees, 16, i3, 73. 

Feeding fruit trees, summary, 33. 

Fillers, 32, 59. 

Fire blight, 77. 

Fog, 46, 76. 

Formulas, 89, 96. 

Food, elements, 18. 

Frost damage, 44, 63. 

Frosty locations, 50. 

Frost fighting, 51, 52. 

Fruit stand, 11. 

Fruit buds, 67, 68, 73. 

Fruit spurs, creating, 68, 69. 

Freezing temperatures of buds and 

bloom, 45. 
Freezing, partial, 45. 
Fungi, 69, 75, 76, 105-121. 
Fungicides and insecticides, 94. 



140 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS TREATED 



Fungi — when to spray for, and 

remedies, 84. 
Fungicides, 77, 89. 

Garden, fruit, 13. 
Gooseberry, 86. 
Grading, 117, 122, 125. 
Grading, standard, 123. 
Grading machines, 134. 
Grafting, 57, 97- 
Grapes, 3, 86, 99, 112. 
Grapes, management, 112. 
Grapes, pruning, 113. 
Grape enemies, 114. 
Grapes under glass, 117. 
Grapes, bearing habit of, 117. 
Greenhouse, 117. 
Growth checking, 68. 
Growers' organizations, 130. 

Hampers, 81, 82, 126, 133. 
Hamilton grading machine, 124. 
Harrows, 16, 37, 132, 134. 
Harrowing, 16, 22, 37, 48. 
Hardpan, 12. 
Heads, low, 82. 
Heading-back, 65. 
Heading trees, 66. 
Heading, wrong, 42. 
Hellebore, 86. 
Heeling-in, 55, 26, 102. 
Heating, artificial, 46, 51. 
Hitchings' system, 40. 
Houses, fruit, 124. 
Humus, 6, 15, 19, 23, 37. 

Insects — when to spray for, and 

remedies, 84. 
Insecticides, 92. 

Insecticides and fungicides, 94. 
Insects, chewing, 75. 
Insects, sucking, 75. 
Inter-crops, 14, 19, 35, 40, 118, 
Irrigating, 9, 10, 14. 

Keeping posted, 83, 135, 
Kerosene emulsion, 93. 

Land, fruit, 132. 

Latitude, 45. 

Labels, 128. 

Leaf buds, 67. 

Leaf hopper, 87. 

Leaf spots, 84, 86. 

Leaf curl, 58. 

Leaf feeding, 73. 

Leaching, 24. 

Lewis Orchard, 3, 19, 20. 

Legumes, 3, 7, 13, 23, 24, 27, 28, 33, 

38, 43. 
Light, 6. 
Lime, 6, 22. 
Lime action, 19, 21. 
Lime-sulphur, 76, 138. 
Lime-sulphur solution, 77, 86. 
Lime-sulphur, self-boiled, 77, 86. 
Lime-sulphur, self-boiled, how to 

make, 89. 
Lime-sulphur, diluted, 90. 



Lime-sulphur solution, how to make, 

92. 
Lime-sulphur-poison, 94. 
Living enemies of trees, 74. 

Magazines, 135. 

Market packages, 133. 

Marketing, 6, 122-131, 118. 

Manure, 31, 62. 

Methods of keeping moisture, 10, 17. 

Mice, 84. 

Mice damage, 20, 38, 84. 

Miscible oil, 76, 86, 93. 

Mildew, 87. 

Mixing spray materials, 83. 

Moisture, 7, 9, 11, 21, 37. 

Moisture, conserving, 25. 

Mulching, 34, 38, 52, 62, 119 

Nipping, 148. 

Nitrate of soda, 30, 62. 

Nitrogen (see legumes), 6, 22, 23. 

Nozzles, 80, 181. 

Number of trees to acre, 60. 

Nursery, 54-56. 

Orchard treatment, 33, 34. 

Orchard systems, 43. 

Orchard heaters, 52. 

Orchard location, 56. 

Orchard, young, 4, 13, 14, 20, 81, 118. 

Orchard records, 47, 97. 

Orchard plan, 25. 

Organizations, 130. 

Organic matter, 6, 15, 19, 23, 27. 

Ornamental fruit trees, 42. 

Oyster shell scale, 84. 

Packing in boxes, 81, 82, 127. 

Packing, 99, 117, 118, 122, 133. 

Packing in barrels, 82, 126. 

Pasturing orchards, 39. 

Papers, 135. 

Packages, market, (see varieties), 

126, 129, 133, 135. 
Peach tree, headed right, 35, 41, 47. 
Peach enemies, 108. 
Peach, 87, 107. 
Peach orchard, 13, 19, 35. 
Peaches, packing, 129. 
Peaches, Ray, 99. 
Peach baskets, 99. 
Pear, 87, 105, 106. 
Pear trees, 36, 41. 
Pears, packing, 128. 
Pear orchard, 48, 105, 117. 
Peas, 3, 27, 28. 
Phosphorus, 6, 22, 23, 30. 
Picking, 82, 122. 
Picking baskets, 82, 133. 
Poisoning, 86. 

PoUenation, insufficient, 63. 
Potash, 6, 22, 23, 29. 
Power sprayers, 64, 79, 81, 136. 
Plum, 88, 109. 
Plant lice, 84, 96. 
Plant foods, proportions and 

amounts, 29. 
Planting plans, 25, 26, 59, 60. 



141 



NOV <5 1911 



INDEX OF SUBJECTS TREATED 



Planting, 34, 54-62, 102, 

Planting, distance apart for, 59, 60. 

Planting details, 61, 6a. 

Planting, too close, 35. 

Plantation, 6. 

Plowing, depth, 38. 

Plowing, 31, 37. 

Props, 73. 

Processing, 82, lag. 

Pruning, wrong, 42. 

Pruning, when, 68. 

Pruning tools, 47, 70. 

Pruning, 41, 61, 65, 71. 

Pruning, correct, 3. 

Pumps, 79. 

Quality of fruit, 44, 74. 
Quince, 88, 100, no. 
Quince enemies, no. 

Ray Peaches, 99. 

Raspberry, 88. 

Rainfall, 10. 

Rabbits, 94. 

Regular bearing, 74. 

Remedies, 76. 

Ripening of wood, 43, 46. 

Ripening, 22, 37, 43-45. 

Roots, 10. 

Roots, length of, 38. 

Roots, pruning, 70. 

Rollers, 16, 37. 

Roadside planting, 3. 

Rose chafer, 86. 

Rot, 87. 

Rust, 38, 84, 86. 

San Jos6 scale, 63, 84, 86. 

Scales, 84, 96. 

Scab, 58, 86. 

Scab, spraying stage for, 63. 

ScufiFy scale, 84. 

Selling, 118, 122, 129, 130, 132, 134. 

Slope, 49, 102. 

Shipping, 82, 118. 

Shaping trees, 66. 

Season, temperature, 45. 

Soil, 6, 7, 8, 18, 21, 56, 102, 105, 107. 

Sod mulch, 13, 16, 19, 20, 32, 36, 38, 

43, 48, 106. 
Soil, subduing, 34. 
Soil improvement, 3. 
Small fruits, 88. 
Size in fruit, 123. 
Special treatment, 7, 102. 
Spraying mixtures, 89, 138. 
Spray mixtures, dormant, 76. 
Spray mixtures, foliage, 76. 
Spraying mixtures, commercial, 80, 

89, 90, 92. 93. 138. 
Spraying house, 57. 
Sprayers, 78-83, 136, 137. 
Spraying, 64, 75, 78, 83, 98. 
Spraying pressure, 78. 
Spraying calendar, 84. 
Strawberries, 14, 19, 35, 40, 89, 100, 

tI5-I2I. 

Strawberries as inter-crop, 115. 
Strawberry plants, 116. 



Strawberries, planting, 119. 

Strawberries, sex in, 119. 130. 

Strawberry enemies, lao, lai. 

Storage, 81, 124. 

Storage house, 135. 

Soluble oils, 93. 

Soap solution, 86, 93. 

Spores, 76. 

Splits, 70, 98. 

Split forks, 57. 

Stayman Winesap, 20. 

Stone wall, 13. 

Staking, grape, 99, 100. 

Summary on frost, 53. 

Subsoil, 7, 15. 

Supplying plant food, 22. 

Sun scald, 46. 

Smudging, 41 

Tags, tree, 47, 97. 

"Take-home" baskets, 82. 

Tanks, 83, 157. 

Temperatures to keep fruit, 35. 

Tent caterpillar, 84, 86. 

Terracing, 39. 

Texture of soil, 8 

Tillage, 16. 

Tomatoes, 19, 25, 30, 88. 

Top working, 97, 157. 

Tobacco, 93. 

Tissue wrapping, 83. 

Thinning, 36, 42, 48, 71, 74. 

Thermometers, 51. 

Training trees, 70. 

Triangular system, 60. 

Trees pedigree of, 54. 

Trees, 5, 6, 54, 102. 

Tree diet, balanced, 30, »r. 

Trees, young, 20, 26, 37,f42, 81. 

Tree butchery, 42. 

Trellises, 99, 100, 117. 

Varieties, 6, 56. 

Varieties, different spraying, 77, 78, 

87, 88. 
Varieties, apple, 103. 
Varieties, pear, 106. 
Varieties, peach, 108. 
Varieties, plum, 109. 
Varieties, strawberry, 120. 
Vegetable matter, 6, 15, 19, 23, 27, 37. 
Vineyard, 99, 100. 

Water, 6. 

Water, too much, 7, 9. 

Water, too little, 9, n. 

Water, amount required, 10. 

Warmth, 6. 

Water influence, 45. 

Wet feet, 4. 

Windbreaks, 4, 46, 48, 50, 98. 

Wind, 47. 

Whitewashing, 3. 

Way orchard, 20. 

Wagons, fruit, 133. 

Wounds, 69. 

Wrapping, 83. 

Yellows, 77. 



142 



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